homestead

Massachusetts Homesteads Cannot Be Attached

05/27/13

It’s obvious, in hindsight.  If home equity is protected by a Massachusetts homestead, then a creditor should not be able to put a pre-judgment attachment lien on that home equity.

(A Massachusetts homestead automatically protect $125,000 of home equity from creditor  liens. It protects $500,000 of home equity if there is a recorded declaration.  It gets complicated with multiple owners.)

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Wife's Homestead Claim Remains in Limbo With No Answer From Fifth Circuit

04/18/13
The plight of the non-filing spouse who stands to lose an interest in the homestead is a trap that is easy to overlook.   Under 11 U.S.C. Sec.
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A Warning Against Do It Yourself Legal Forms

03/29/13
A debtor avoided losing her home in a recent case illustrating the perils of do it yourself legal forms.    Lowe v. Vazquez, No. SA-12-CV-00399-DAE (W.D. Tex. 3/28/13).    
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Is an Adjacent Lot Part of the Homestead for Exemption Purposes?

03/14/12

Homestead Exemptions Don’t Protect Investment Property Although homestead exemption laws vary by state, none of them protect investment property. A homestead is, by definition, a primary residence. You don’t necessarily need a white picket fence and a golden retriever, but you must live in the home in order to claim the exemption. As a general rule, investment [...]

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Judge Rules That Home is Where the Heart Is

01/04/11
In 2000, Natalie Portman starred in "Where the Heart Is," a movie about a pregnant 17 year old girl who makes her home in a Walmart. Judge Stacey Jernigan recently had to decide a quite different case about home and the heart. The case involved whether a modern day cowpoke's heart was down on the ranch or in town in his wife's bedroom. Fortunately, like a character in a John Wayne movie, the Debtor fended off every attack and saved the ranch. In re Tinsley, No. 09-36036 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. 11/16/10).
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