Category: Bankruptcy/Matrimonial

Intersection of Bankruptcy and Matrimonial Law: Tenancy by the Entirety in Bankruptcy

3/17/2016

Author: Spiros Avramidis

As most attorneys know, spouses that own real property as tenants by the entirety (“TBE”) enjoy protections not provided to other types of ownership interests. TBE arises when real property owned as husband and wife. In New York, TBE protects real property from being used to satisfy the debt of only one of the owner-spouses. In other words, if only one of the owner-spouses is obligated on a debt, a creditor cannot force a sale of the entire real property to satisfy the debt because only one of the owner-spouses is obligated on the debt. Real property owned jointly (rights of survivorship) or in common (no survivorship) does not receive the same protection and is subject to sale or partition.

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Intersection of Bankruptcy and Matrimonial Law: Do I Still Have to Pay These Attorney’s Fees?

2/29/2016

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Author: Spiros Avramidis

As explained in a prior post by Andrew M. Thaler, it’s general knowledge among matrimonial attorneys that debts classified as domestic support obligations (“DSO’s”) cannot be discharged. Furthermore and maybe not as generally known, attorneys’ fees owed to a non-debtor spouse, whether directly or indirectly, by a debtor can survive a bankruptcy discharge. First, there are some interesting quirks to whether a DSO can be discharged. For instance, a debt does not have be payable directly to the non-debtor spouse for it to be excepted from discharge. Courts look at the substance and the nature of the debt rather than the identity of the payee; for instance, does the non-debtor spouse benefit from payment to the third party? The fact that the obligation is payable to the attorney and not the non-debtor spouse will not necessarily make the debt dischargeable.

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Intersection of Bankruptcy and Matrimonial Law

2/24/2016

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Author: Andrew M. Thaler

The intersection of matrimonial and bankruptcy law can leave parties to a divorce both confused and aggrieved. Matrimonial courts are charged with straightening out the affairs between the spouses. That often includes allocation of property rights without consideration of the rights of creditors who are not parties to the divorce proceedings. When creditor rights are impacted by divorce proceedings problems can arise. If one of the spouses files for bankruptcy the non-debtor spouse's rights may be negatively and substantially affected by the interests of the filing spouse and his or her creditors.

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Intersection of Bankruptcy and Matrimonial Law: Tenancy by the Entirety in Bankruptcy

Intersection of Bankruptcy and Matrimonial Law: Do I Still Have to Pay These Attorney’s Fees?

Intersection of Bankruptcy and Matrimonial Law

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