CHRISTOPHER BARCLAY V. DEJAN BOSKOSKI, No. 22-55098 (9th Cir. 2022)
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=This appeal arises from Appellee’s efforts to avoid, in bankruptcy, a judgment lien recorded in 2014 against his Carlsbad, California home. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the bankruptcy court’s judgment in favor of Appellee and against the Chapter 7 Trustee. The panel was called upon to decide how the Bankruptcy Code’s procedure for avoiding judgment liens that “impair[] an exemption to which the debtor would have been entitled,” 11 U.S.C. Section 522(f)(1), interacts with California’s homestead exemption, which allows a debtor to claim a limited exemption in bankruptcy in connection with his primary residence.
The issue gained complexity here because the amount of California’s homestead exemption increased significantly between the time the lien on Appellee’s home was recorded in 2014 and the time he filed for bankruptcy in 2021. Under California law, the exemption Appellee could claim would be fixed at the 2014 amount. Appellee argued that the Bankruptcy Code requires looking to the exemption he could have claimed, but for the lien, at the time he filed his bankruptcy petition. The panel held that in deciding whether a judgment lien impairs a debtor’s California homestead exemption, the Bankruptcy Code requires courts to determine the amount of the exemption to which the debtor would have been entitled in the absence of the lien at issue. Thus, the bankruptcy court correctly applied the $600,000 homestead exemption available in 2021, which, consequently, allowed Appellee to avoid the entirety of the judgment lien placed on his home.
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