@misc{9227925,
  abstract     = {{This thesis aims to critically examine the Swedish regulation in section 48, paragraph 1 point 7 of the Debt Relief Act (2016:675) in relation to the rehabilitative purpose of the legislation. The study focuses particularly on how the regulation affects debtors’ incentives to work. Through a doctrinal and comparative legal method, the thesis analyses how Swedish and Danish law respectively address situations in which a debtor’s financial circumstances improve during an ongoing debt relief procedure. The analysis is supplemented by empirical research concerning the effects of debt relief on work incentives and labour market attachment.
Under Swedish law, an established repayment plan may be increased if the debtor’s financial situation improves substantially during the relief period. The analysis demonstrates that the Swedish regulation is based on a balance between the rehabilitative purpose of the legislation and the interest in maintaining general payment morality. Through case law, the Swedish Supreme Court has emphasized that the reconsideration provision is to be applied restrictively and that there must be room for a discretionary overall assessment. In this overall assessment, the rehabilitative purpose of the debt relief system is to be given significant weight. 
At the same time, the possibility of reviewing debt relief decisions in cases of substantially improved financial circumstances creates uncertainty in practice regarding the debtor’s future income. Empirical research shows that Swedish debtors who are initially unemployed largely remain unemployed after completing debt relief. No corresponding pattern has been identified in Denmark. This outcome is primarily explained by the fact that Swedish debtors risk having their repayment plans increased when their income rises, thereby reducing the financial gains from employment. In turn, this weakens debtors’ incentives to work.
In Danish law, the starting point is instead that the repayment plan is definitive and unaffected by subsequent increases in income. Debtors are therefore allowed to retain future financial improvements. According to Danish empirical research, this creates stronger work incentives and contributes to re-entry into the labour market.
The thesis thus demonstrates that the Swedish regulation, as interpreted and applied in case law, can be regarded as consistent with the rehabilitative purpose of the Debt Relief Act at a doctrinal level. At the same time, empirical research shows that the practical effects of the regulation result in the rehabilitative objective being only partially realised in practice. Section 48, paragraph 1, point 7 of the Debt Relief Act can therefore not be considered fully consistent with the rehabilitative purpose of the Act.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Elin}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Den definitiva omstarten – eller? En komparativ studie av omprövning vid förbättrade ekonomiska förhållanden under pågående skuldsanering i svensk och dansk rätt}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}