Debtors who apologize in bankruptcy court are more likely to have their repayment plans approved and are deemed more likely to manage their finances properly in the future.
That's the finding of a new paper by a pair of law professors who presented 137 bankruptcy judges with hypothetical Chapter 13 scenarios. Some judges got scenarios in which the debtor apologized, while others got scenarios without the apology.
When the results were tabulated, debtors who apologized were likelier to get their plans approved and even won more sympathy for discretionary expenses, such as a daughter's gymnastics fees.
The results are consistent with prior research in other legal contexts, such as criminal courts and tort cases, suggesting that it pays to apologize.
"Bankrupt Apologies," Jennifer K. Robbennolt and Robert M. Lawless, Illinois Program in Law, Behavior and Social Science Paper No. LBSS13-20
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