A new court opinion issued by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals declares that alimony is part of the bankruptcy estate and can be liquidated by the Chapter 7 Trustee unless a specific state exemption protecting the alimony award exists. In re Mehlhaff, 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 944 (Bankr. D.S.D., Mar. 12, 2013).
In every state there exists a list of property that is protected from creditor garnishments and property seizures. We call these laws Exemptions. In theory, these laws are designed to prevent creditors from taking away everything a person owns, but in practice few debtors know how to assert their exemption rights and they often
Can you keep your motorcycle if you file bankruptcy? Over the years I have learned that many folks value their motorcycle above all other possessions. I recently caught the motorcycle bug myself and I am preparing to get my license as I write this blog post.
The answer to the above question depends on several
Nebraska Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Saladino has issued a written opinion protecting funds held in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Creditor First National Bank of Wahoo objected to Troy Euse’s claim of an exemption protecting $163,000 held in his IRA account and another $240,000 in a 401(k) retirement account, case number 10-43179.
The debtor claimed
An unemployed pharmacist in Lincoln, Nebraska lost his battle to save his home from the claim of the Chapter 7 Trustee during a bankruptcy court hearing on January 5. In Re Bozarth, Bankruptcy Case Number 10-42629. The homeowner filed his own case and was not represented by an attorney at the hearing. The homeowner