A split has emerged between two federal appeals courts over whether a bankruptcy debtor who inherits funds from a non-spouse’s individual retirement account can protect them from the reach of creditors.

26 Apr 2013Donna Higgins

The Bankruptcy Code exempts funds in an IRA that a person sets aside for his or her own retirement.

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California’s “wildcard” exemption, which permits bankruptcy debtors to exempt up to $18,350 in “any property” from their bankruptcy estates, applies even to the value of “fancy” cars, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

25 Mar 2013Donna Higgins

A federal Bankruptcy Court judge had ruled that the exemption could not be applied because other portions of California’s exemption statutes explicitly deal with vehicles.

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The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that the personal representative of an estate cannot recover damages from an attorney whose alleged malpractice resulted in massive estate and inheritance tax bills because the claim did not arise during the decedent’s lifetime.

18 Mar 2013Donna Higgins

The state high court said in its decision that a cause of action based on increased estate taxes does not accrue until after the decedent’s death, meaning it does not qualify as a survival claim that can be brought by a personal representative.

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An elderly Arizona woman who transferred her nest egg to an account held by her daughter so she would be eligible for Medicaid, if the need ever arose, has lost the funds now that her daughter filed for Chapter 7, a bankruptcy court judge has ruled.

13 Mar 2013Donna Higgins

The Chapter 7 trustee argued that the funds must be returned to the daughter’s bankruptcy estate as an avoidable transfer under the Bankruptcy Code.

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A federal judge in Mississippi has denied summary judgment to a nursing home that allegedly fired an activity aide for refusing to pray the rosary with a Catholic resident.

12 Sep 2012Donna Higgins

U.S. District Judge Halil S. Ozerden of the Southern District of Mississippi ruled that plaintiff Kelsey Nobach sufficiently raised triable questions of fact as to whether the Woodland Village Nursing Home Center Inc. discriminated against her because of her religious beliefs when it fired her.

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