From the Editor - Property of Estate and Exemptions • NACTT Academy

From the Editor – Property of Estate and Exemptions

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Although court lacked equitable authority to deny amended exemption, state law provided equitable estoppel. Applying Law v. Siegel, the bankruptcy court no longer had equitable authority under § 105(a) to disallow exemptions when the debtor acted in bad faith, and any basis for disallowance raised by the Chapter 7 trustee must be found in applicable state law, since the exemption was state-law created. California law recognized the concept of estoppel. The debtor’s original schedules did not claim homestead exemption but three years later she amended . . .

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