We occasionally get calls from former clients about reaffirming their mortgage loan. A reaffirmation agreement is an agreement made between a creditor and the debtor that waives discharge of a debt that would otherwise be discharged in bankruptcy. In California, there is no reason to reaffirm a mortgage debt which is secured by a first deed of trust on a person’s home. California’s foreclosure law provides that a lender who forecloses a person’s primary home in what is know

In a 7-1 decision, with Justice Thomas dissenting, the United States Supreme Court reversed In re Ritz, 787 F.3d 312 (5th Cir., May 22, 2015) and resoled a circuit split, with its decision in Husky International Electronics, Inc. v. Ritz, 2016 WL 2842452 (May 16, 2016). The Supreme Court held that the term "actual fraud" in 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2)(A) encompasses forms of fraud, like fraudulent conveyance schemes, that can be effected without a false representation. The Court sa

Before a bankruptcy court can confirm a Chapter 11 plan, it must determine if any persons voting to accept the plan are insiders. The Ninth Circuit in In re The Village at Lakeridge, LLC, 2016 U.S. App. Lexis 2124 recently held that a creditor was not a statutory insider because he did not fall within one of the categories listed in 11 U.S.C. §101(31). The panel held that the creditor did not become a statutory insider simply by receiving a claim from a statutory insider. In

In a bankruptcy case decided last term, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the 7th Circuit's decision holding that funds in an inherited IRA are not set aside for the debtor's retirement and are thus not "retirement funds." The court did note that IRAs inherited from a spouse may be treated differently. Clark v. Rameker , 573 US___, 134 S.Ct. 2242 (2014). #exemptions #bankruptcy