For Californians, the CA Supreme Court’s decision in Brace upended our understanding of joint tenancy and community property. For decades, we “knew” that a property couldn’t be both joint tenancy and community property . Siberell. And for those of us in the 9th Circuit, we “knew” that when married folks acquired property with title taken […]
Siegel, Claim Preclusion & Me
I’ve been having nightmares about the 9th’s Circuit’s decision in Siegel for 20 years. Broad strokes, Siegel (143 F.3d 525 (9th Cir. 1998) holds that a filed claim in a no asset bankruptcy case to which no one objects is entitled to preclusive effect in subsequent litigation by reason of Bankruptcy Code §502. In Siegel, […]
How To Bankruptcy-Proof A Divorce Settlement
Chapter 13 bankruptcy can discharge non support obligations associated with a divorce that are non-dischargeable in Chapter 7. That’s worth repeating: any marital settlement agreement or court judgment that calls for payment or indemnity by one spouse to the other in the future is potentially vulnerable to a subsequent bankruptcy filing by the obligor-spouse. While […]
The Complex World Of Interspousal Claims In Bankruptcy
Traps and grey areas abound when one spouse files bankruptcy during or after a divorce. Inattention by the non-filing spouse can result in the bankruptcy discharge of spousal claims that might actually be nondischargeable. One of those traps involves the differing treatment in bankruptcy of debts to a former spouse incurred in the course of […]
Lien Avoidance In Bankruptcy: The Questions You Need To Answer
Black letter law says liens pass through bankruptcy unchanged. But the better statement adds a single word: unless. Liens survive bankruptcy intact unless….unless you take some action to void them. One tool to void liens lives in §522(f). Its location in Chapter 5 tells you that it’s available to any individual debtor who is entitled […]
Lenders Can’t Hide From Misapplication of Mortgage Payments
Who knew 20 years ago how apparently hard it is to account for money paid to you? Even if accounting for money was your business? Today’s raft of mortgage accounting issues were not ones I foresaw when I became a bankruptcy lawyer. Yet every day we encounter cases where the foreclosure notice follows the “all […]
Between the 1st and the 15th: Is Mortgage Current?
The no man’s land between the mortgage due date and late payment is a persistent trouble spot for Chapter 13 practitioners: Are there arrears when the case is filed during the grace period and the payment made before it was late? In Borre, Judge Ronald Sargis of ED CA said no. He held that the […]
