Frost v. Viegelahn

Fifth Circuit Goes Further Down the Disappearing Exemption Rabbit Hole

07/21/17
In yet another blow to the finality of exemptions, the Fifth Circuit has ruled that a chapter 7 debtor who claimed an IRA as exempt but later withdrew the proceeds must pay the funds to the trustee.   Engelhart v. Hawk (Matter of Hawk), No. 16-20641 (5th Cir.
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District Court Rules that Proceeds of a Texas Homestead Sold Post-Petition Lose Their Protection After Six Months in a Chapter 7 Case

03/17/17
Overruling a bankruptcy court decision, a District Judge in the Western District of Texas has ruled that proceeds from sale of a homestead can be recovered if not timely reinvested in a Chapter 7 case.   The Court ruled that the Frost decision applied equally in both a Chapter 13 and a Chapter 7 setting.   Lowe v. DeBerry, No. 5:15-cv-1135-RCL (W.D. Tex.
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Exemptions Continue to Feel Frost's Bite

02/22/15
The rift in the bankruptcy universe created by Viegelahn v. Frost (Matter of Frost), 744 F.3d 384 (5th Cir. 2014) continues to widen, drawing more exemptions into its vortex in seeming disregard of Supreme Court precedent.   The latest opinion to come down is  In re Hawk, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 309 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. 1/30/15) which holds that the Debtor in a chapter 7 proceeding forfeited his IRA exemption when he liquidated the account after the deadline to object had expired.   
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Texas Homesteads Sold Post-Petition Take Another Hit

08/23/14
Texas bankruptcy judge Jeff Bohm has ruled that a chapter 7 debtor who sold his homestead over a year after filing bankruptcy could not keep the portion of the proceeds when he failed to reinvest them within six months.  In re Smith, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 3344 (Bankr. S.D. Tex.
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