State law insulated a recorded judgment lien from future increases in the homestead exemption. However, bankruptcy law trumps that limitation, says the 9th Circuit in Barclay v. Boskoski. [T]he Bankruptcy Code requires courts to determine the amount of the exemption to whichthe debtor would have been entitled in the absence of the lien at issue […]
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 […]
Ensure You Understand Insurance In Bankruptcy
Sometimes, issues that you’ve just skimmed over burst forth in bunches, demanding attention. Lately, that issue in my bankruptcy cases has been insurance. Because its treatment varies so, we need to be asking more pointed questions of clients about insurance policies and the debtor as beneficiary. Unmatured life insurance Starting with exemptions, §522(d)(7) makes an […]
Unpacking The Enhanced California Homestead
On January 1, 2021, California’s homestead exemption grew from a prior low of $75,000 to a minimum of $300,000, to as much as $600,000, depending on county wide home prices. And the homestead floor and ceiling adjust annually for inflation. A big part of the change is that the increased homestead is available to homeowners […]
New California Homestead in Action
The California homestead just changed, for the better, but it raised questions about how the single change affected the rest of the law. The newly enacted version of California Code of Civil Procedure 704.730 replaces the previous homestead system that pegged the amount of the available homestead to family relationships, including marriage, to age, or […]
Do You Believe in Magic Exemptions?
I commend to you 11 U.S.C. 522(c). For therein lies a magical tool even for the client who has non dischargeable debts. It boils down to this: exemptions, like diamonds, are forever. Once an exemption is allowed in a case that isn’t dismissed, that property is forever beyond the reach of creditors whose claim arose […]
5 Tricks For Bankruptcy Exemptions
I’ve spent hunks of the past couple of days working exemption issues in cases we’re filing. California has opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions but has a bankruptcy-only set of exemptions that largely mirror the federal bankruptcy exemptions. My typical client this year has substantially more income and more assets than the people I […]
