Issue link: https://mbozikis.ufcontent.com/i/1422521
121 occurrence of an insolvency-like event with respect to the debtor; (ii) is not perfected or enforceable at the time of the commencement of the case against a bona fide purchaser that purchases such property, whether or not such purchaser exists (except with respect to certain tax liens); (iii) is for rent; or (iv) is a lien of distress for rent. 11 U.S.C. § 545. Two examples of statutory liens are mechanic's liens and tax liens. The trustee's avoidance powers under Section 545 do not extend to consensual or judicial liens. Although the Bankruptcy Code does not define "fixing of a statutory lien," the U.S. Supreme Court has observed (albeit with respect to a different Section of the Bankruptcy Code) that "[t]he gerund 'fixing' refers to a temporal event. That event—the fastening of a liability—presupposes an object onto which the liability can fasten . . . . Therefore, unless the debtor had the property interest to which the lien attached at some point before the lien attached to that interest, he or she cannot avoid the fixing of the lien . . . ." Farrey v. Sanderfoot, 500 U.S. 291, 296 (1991). It is also worth noting that, with respect to clause (i) in the preceding paragraph, the trustee only has the power to avoid so- called "springing liens" that arise because of or due to the debtor's insolvency. Section 545 "'is not satisfied simply because a statutory lien attaches to the debtor's property when she is insolvent or after the occurrence of other events described'" in clause (i) above. 2 D AVID G. EPSTEIN ET AL., BANKRUPTCY § 6- 62, at 140 (1990). Additionally, payments made during the preference period to avoid fixing of statutory liens are not avoidable where, at the time of the payment, the lienholder remained eligible to perfect the lien pursuant to relevant state law and the perfection of the lien would not otherwise have been avoidable. See Official Comm. of Unsecured Creditors of