Glossary

Motion for Relief from Stay

Also known as: Lift-Stay Motion, Motion to Lift the Automatic Stay

The procedural motion a secured creditor files asking the bankruptcy court to lift the automatic stay as to specific collateral — typically to proceed with a stayed foreclosure — which shifts the burden of proof to the debtor on most issues once the movant makes a threshold showing, and which the court must generally address at a preliminary hearing within 30 days of filing.

Procedurally, Bankruptcy Code Section 362(g) places the burden on the moving lender only as to the debtor's equity in the property; once that threshold showing is made, the burden shifts to the debtor to prove adequate protection exists, or that the property is necessary for an effective reorganization with a reasonable prospect of confirmation — a burden-shifting structure that favors lenders more than the general intuition that the moving party always carries the burden would suggest. If the court cannot hold a final hearing within 30 days of the preliminary hearing, the stay terminates automatically as to that movant unless the court makes specific findings extending it, giving relief-from-stay litigation genuine statutory urgency relative to ordinary bankruptcy motion practice. For lenders facing serial, often multi-entity bad-faith filings designed purely to re-impose the stay each time a foreclosure sale is scheduled — a recognized abuse pattern sometimes executed by transferring fractional interests in the property to successive new debtor entities on the eve of each sale — Section 362(d)(4) allows the court to grant in rem relief binding on the property itself for up to two years regardless of who owns it or files next, eliminating the need to relitigate stay relief against each new filer.