Tax liens in bankruptcy sometimes don’t stand up to close scrutiny, to the delight and profit of bankruptcy debtors. I was reminded of two such instances by the excellent presenters at the NACBA 2021 Workshop. Lien perfection follows state law The secret tax lien attaches to all of a taxpayer’s property of any kind, wherever […]
Marital Adjustment: Everything But The Kitchen Sink
Not every expenditure that benefits the debtor’s household or his family is a household expense. And, if it’s not a household expense, it doesn’t get added to CMI in a single spouse bankruptcy filing. That’s how the marital adjustment should work. But it’s not so simple. Household expense is not an expansive definition During a NACBA […]
Brace & Beyond: Joint Tenancy & Transmutation
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 […]
