McFarland v. Wallace, No. 14-14514 (11th Cir. 2015)
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Debtor filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and claimed numerous exemptions. At issue are debtor's requests for exemption for: (1) an annuity worth well over $150,000; and (2) the
nearly $15,000 cash surrender value of a whole life insurance policy. The court affirmed the denial of both exemptions, concluding that Georgia Code 44-13-100(a)(9) does not violate equal protection where it is rationally related to the purpose of bankruptcy legislation and where Section 44-13-100(a)(9) does not violate the Bankruptcy Clause. A plain reading of 11 U.S.C. 522 does not, as debtor alleges, allow a bankruptcy debtor to use a state exemption statute where the state itself has rendered the statute inapplicable. Rather, very near the opposite is true; states have been authorized to define and restrict the applicability of their bankruptcy exemptions.
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