Lance Addison v. Randall Seaver U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 07-2064 and No: 07-2727

Appeal from the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit [PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Bye and Colloton, Circuit Judges] Civil case - bankruptcy. It was clear error for the bankruptcy court to find that debtor had the requisite intent to hinder, delay or defraud a creditor when he converted some nonexempt property into his homestead
on the day he filed bankruptcy; on the same analysis, the court erred in disallowing a Roth IRA exemption; on the same analysis, the court erred in denying debtor a discharge on the collateral estoppel effect of its earlier findings on disallowing the exemptions; Section 529 tuition savings accounts are nonexempt property of the bankruptcy estate.

Date of the opinion: 8/7/08

Full opinion click here.

In re Montanaro, Case No. 08-60665 (Bankr. W.D. Mo. Dec. 10, 2008).

Debtor's conversion of non-exempt mutual funds into exempt IRAs on the eve of bankruptcy was permissible exemption planning in light of the Eighth Circuit's opinion in Addison v. Seaver.

Date of the decision: 12/10/08

For the opinion click here.