Tag: exemption

An exemption is the way you protect your assets in a bankruptcy. For example, the California homestead exemption is one example of how debtors can protect their home in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In California, there’s also an option to allow you to protect anything you want, but it has limits.

 

 

Deadline to object extended by amending exemptions or schedules

Objecting to Exemptions: Amendments and the 4003 Deadline

Posted by Hale Andrew Antico on

Objecting to Exemptions: Amendments and the 4003 Deadline

When does the 30-day deadline of Rule 4003 get restarted?

Does any amendment of schedules extend the 30-day objection deadline of Rule 4003, or only amended exemptions or assets? Another bankruptcy attorney recently saw that a creditor objected to his client’s exemptions, which creditors are allowed to do. The issue is, there’s a deadline to object to exemptions, as a rule. Creditor objected after the deadline, and debtor’s counsel asked if he was justified to seek Rule 11 sanctions.

There are exceptions that can extend or restart that objection deadline. Obviously, it would be fair that, for example, amending the exemptions on Schedule C gives an opportunity to object to the amendments and new exemptions. But what if there’s an amendment to any of the schedules?  Does amending income on Schedule I give a new opportunity to object to exemptions? Let’s take a look.

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time of bankruptcy filing determines homestead exemption

9th Cir: To Avoid a Judgment Lien, Use Exemptions at this Time

Posted by Hale Andrew Antico on

9th Circuit: Lien Avoidance Homestead Determined at Time of Bankruptcy Filing

If someone wants to avoid a judgment lien in bankruptcy, is the homestead exemption the one at the time the lien attached, or at the time of the bankruptcy filing? The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently weighed in, and the answer can affect thousands of dollars of liens on your home.

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The 1215-day rule is unsettled about residency vs ownership in California

1215-day rule: Is Residency Needed, or Merely Ownership in Calif

Posted by Hale Andrew Antico on

1215-day rule: Is Residency Needed, or Merely Ownership in California?

A look at how closing the Mansion Loophole could lose your home in bankruptcy

Does the 1215-day rule for the homestead require occupancy as a domicile, or merely ownership? This is a new issue here for bankruptcy attorneys in California. It matters to you, too, if you own a home in California and are thinking of filing bankruptcy. This is because the homestead exemption amount until 1/2021 was always below the 522 number.  Let’s break this apart in plain English a little bit so we can understand what’s at stake.

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California Homestead and Reside Away from Home and State presents challenges

California Homestead: Intent to Reside and the Out-of-State Home

Posted by Hale Andrew Antico on

California Homestead: Intent to Reside and the Out-of-State Home

A bankruptcy attorney colleague recently asked, does the California homestead exemption protect you if you don’t reside in the house?  Are you required to live in the home? For how long? Who qualifies? Does the homestead exemption protect the home if the house isn’t in California? The answer, like most things in law, is: “it depends.”

Dual residency in two states and and claim homestead in both?

No, there is no dual residency in multiple states for the purposes of homestead. As you’ll read below, a homestead is the place in which you primarily live. You can’t primarily live in two places. So, the determination is where you primarily reside, which state law applies, and is the house protected by the California homestead exemption.

Let’s look at these “away from home” situations one at a time.

The California homestead and intent to reside

california homestead away from home
California homestead is challenged if away from home, and the intent to actually live there is unclear

First, can someone claim the California homestead exemption if they live in the house on the date the petition is filed, but move out after? What if they move out after the Chapter 7 bankruptcy is filed, but it’s just a temporary relocation?  Or what if the debtor who filed bankruptcy really has no intention to return?

The result is very fact-specific, and has had bankruptcy courts and appellate courts carefully examining the particulars for the debtor before filed, on the date the case was filed, and then after the case was filed. Let’s review a few significant cases in the Ninth Circuit to see how the courts have ruled.

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ride-through california bankruptcy

Ride-Through Back in Calif Bankruptcy

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Ride-Through Back in California Bankruptcy

Ride-through is back in California bankruptcy. This is big news for 2022 and beyond. It restores the right of someone in bankruptcy to be free of personal liability on a car loan in the event of a future default. To be clear, you don’t get a free car in bankruptcy. But if you don’t reaffirm the car debt, and stop paying the car after the bankruptcy discharge resulting in a repo, you won’t owe the deficiency balance.

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sb1099 new california exemptions good news

SB1099: New 2023 California Bankruptcy Exemptions Increase

Posted by Hale Andrew Antico on

SB1099: New California Bankruptcy Exemptions Increase for 2023 | 5 Major Wins

SB1099, the new California exemptions increase which gives debtors in bankruptcy more protections, is now law.  The new California exemptions for 2023 help people in bankruptcy keep more of their assets, including their cars, their home, money, support pay, and sick leave. The bill was signed by the governor yesterday, and takes effect 1/1/2023.

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fraudulent transfer California

Fraudulent Transfer California: Top Keys

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Fraudulent Transfer in California: Top Keys

Fraudulent transfers. Voidable or fraudulent conveyances. They go with these 17 words: “Have you sold, transferred, or given away anything worth more than $3,000 in the last four years?” It’s a 341(a) question bankruptcy attorneys can recite in their sleep, and one that can cause our debtor clients to have nightmares. The reason is the trap known as fraudulent transfers, voidable transfers, fraudulent conveyances, and the like.

Fraudulent transfer in California comes up typically here in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Also known as a fraudulent conveyance, it can get your friends and family in hot water. It’s one of the top tips recommended to do or avoid before filing bankruptcy. Fraudulent transfer grief can even include the recipient being taken to court in a lawsuit, and forced to give up something they own. It’s terrifying and a nightmare. Worst of all, it can all happen with the purest of intentions.

That’s right: fraudulent conveyance doesn’t even require fraud.  More on that in a bit.

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bankruptcy dos and don'ts

12 Crucial Tips Before Filing Bankruptcy

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12 Crucial Tips to Do (and Avoid) Before Filing Bankruptcy

Los Angeles Bankruptcy lawyer explains what to do and don’t before seeking a fresh start

If you’re thinking about filing bankruptcy, what you do you beforehand has more of a bearing on the success of your case than how well the papers are completed. As a longtime Los Angeles bankruptcy attorney, I must make the best of the circumstances that are presented to me. Sometimes these situations are, shall we say, less than ideal.

What follows, in no particular order, are just some of the things I wish the people I meet with had done, or avoided doing, before we met for the consultation.

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Woman Facing Jail

Woman Facing Jail for Bankruptcy Fraud

Posted by Hale Andrew Antico on

A woman in Michigan recently pled guilty to bankruptcy fraud. Wait, jail? Bankruptcy is just forms, right? Just before filing bankruptcy, she had received a $12,000 workers’ compensation award. She, then made it disappear. After that, she lied about the whole thing. Now she faces five years in prison, $250,000 fine, or both.

When you file bankruptcy, you’re signing a stack of papers under oath. You’ll then be asked, under penalty of perjury, whether they list all your assets, income, and about any recent transfers. The wrong answer, a lie, could land you in jail for bankruptcy fraud.

The sad kicker is this: in California, this likely could’ve been avoided. All she has to do was everything disclosed everything. With a good bankruptcy attorney, it could then properly exempted. She’d be free today, enjoying her discharge and money.

She only had to tell the truth to her bankruptcy lawyer. Then, she needed to be honest in the bankruptcy papers. a good Los Angeles bankruptcy attorney could have exempted the award, and she’d have it to spend when the bankruptcy is over.

By trying to save a few bucks on maybe the best bankruptcy lawyer, she’ll not only lose $12,000, but maybe twenty times that, and her freedom.

Contact me today for a consultation, and let’s guide you to a honest fresh start.