Bankruptcy A-Z: B is for Bankruptcy Estate
December 20th, 2011 | 
Author: Bankruptcy A-Z: B is for Bankruptcy Estate
Filing for bankruptcy creates the bankruptcy estate. It consists of all of the debtor’s legal and equitable interests as of the commencement of the case. It also consists of any property that the trustee can recover.
B is for Bankruptcy Estate.
Normally, the estate only includes property that the debtor owned or was entitled to on the date of filing. However, any property that the debtor becomes entitled to within 180 days of filing as a result or inheritance, property settlement or life insurance also becomes part of the bankruptcy estate.
The estate does not include property held in a 401(k) or similar type of retirement account. Some funds held in 529 plans are excluded as well.
In addition, debtors can exempt some property based on the law that applies to their case at the time they file. If you lived within the state where you are filing your case for the two continuous years prior to filing your case, you would use that state’s laws.
Virginia exemptions can be found here.
Whatever property is left is what the trustee administers in Chapter 7 cases. In Chapter 13 cases, you keep the property, but you pay the value of the property into the estate for the Chapter 13 trustee to administer.
See my post on assets for the consequences of failing to disclose property.
If you need to protect your assets from creditors and are in the metro Richmond area, or anywhere in central Virginia, contact bankruptcy and consumer lawyer Mitchell Goldstein at (804) 592-1674 or by email at mitch at mitchellpgoldstein dot com.
Other B posts:
B is for Business or Business or Businesses and Business Debt or Business & Individuals or business bankruptcy.
B is for Buy Low and Sell High.
B is for Bankruptcy.
B is for Bailout.
B is for Borrow.
B is for Bar Date.
B is for Bank Account.
Photo Credit: Double—M
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Posted in Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Alphabet | 
Tags: bankruptcy, bankruptcy alphabet, bankruptcy estate