United States v. Harris, No. 16-10152 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseIn 1997, Michael Harris was convicted of eight federal criminal counts related to theft from an employee benefit plan. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $646,000 in restitution. He paid only a small fraction of that amount. The government later learned that Harris was a beneficiary of two irrevocable, discretionary trusts established by his parents for his support. In 2015, the government applied for a writ of continuing garnishment for any property distributed to Harris from the trusts. The trustees opposed the application on the ground that Harris had disclaimed his interest in the trusts, with the exception of several checking and investment accounts. The district court granted the writ and ordered the trustees to pay to the United States all current and future amounts distributed to Harris under the trusts. After review, the Ninth Circuit concluded that Harris’s interest in the trusts qualified as property under the federal debt collection procedure that applied in this case. “The government is not attempting to compel distributions from the trusts. However, any current or future distributions from the trusts to Harris shall be subject to the continuing writ of garnishment, until the restitution judgment is satisfied.”
Court Description: Garnishment. The panel affirmed the district court’s decision that a writ of continuing garnishment attaches to a beneficiary’s interest in discretionary support trusts, in a case in which the beneficiary, Michael Harris, owes restitution ordered following his 1997 conviction. The panel held that Harris’s interest in the trusts, which were established by his parents for his support, qualifies as “property” under 28 U.S.C. §§ 3002(12), 3205(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 3613(c). The panel wrote that because Harris has a right to receive distributions under California law, his interest in the discretionary trusts is not a mere expectation; that his disclaimer of his interest in the trusts does not prevent the attachment of the writ of garnishment; and that the trusts’ spendthrift clauses do not protect the trusts’ assets from the enforcement of a federal lien. Noting that the government is not attempting to compel distributions from the trusts, the panel wrote that any current or future distributions from the trusts to Harris shall be subject to the continuing writ of garnishment until the restitution judgment is satisfied. UNITED STATES V. HARRIS 3
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