Articles from Miami Bankruptcy Law Blog

On February 22, 2012, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Jennings v. Jennings, 670 F.3d 1330 (11th Cir. 2012).  The case involved the issue of whether debt arising from the debtor's active participation with a co-conspirator in performing a fraudulent transfer of real property was excepted from discharge under 11 U.S.C. §§523(a)(6) which provides that a debt for "willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity or to the property of another entity" is non-dischargeble. The Court upheld the District Court's decision that the claim was non-dischargeable.

On May 31, 2013, the Florida Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued it decision in the case of Zlatkis v. All America Team Concepts, LLC  upheld the validity and enforcement of spendthrift trusts. In this case, a judgement holder attempted to enforce its judgment against the debtor's interest in a spendthrift trust.

Much of my practice today consists of consulting with clients who are interested in saving their real estate from foreclosure using Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. The discussions breakdown into two different categories - real estate that is used as a principal residence and real estate that is not used as a principal residence.

The January 30, 2007 case of In re Schwarz, __ B.R. ___, 2007 WL247649 (Bkrtcy.S.D. Fla.)(Olson, J.) held certain real property as exempt from administration in the estate under 11 522 (b)(3)(B) which allows for the exemption of any interest in property which the debtor held as tenants by the entireties to the extent that it is exempt from process under applicable nonbankruptcy law.