How Far Can We Push Law v. Siegel?
An original blog written by our Partner Attorney, Michael Avanesian, Esq.
I was casually reading a couple of bankruptcy cases and I came across a case where the debtor reopens his case to amend his exemptions. The trustee objects to the exemption based on an argument that when the case was closed, the Debtors lost their ability to amend their exemptions as a matter of course under Rule 1009(a) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. When you read Rule 1009(a), it says (in part),
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But, what happened to Law v. Siegel? In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the debtor may amend his exemptions at any time. In particular, Scalia’s opinion contains the following:
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Nothing in Section 522 says that it no longer applies to cases which are closed. Scalia even went on to state that:
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An original blog post written by our Partner Attorney, Michael Avanesian, Esq.
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