Source: https://library.nclc.org/increase-federal-bankruptcy-exemptions-other-dollar-amounts-april-1-2019
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 22:06:09+00:00

Document:
New dollar amounts take effect on April 1, 2019, and will apply to all cases filed on or after that date. Consumer debtors who may benefit from the higher dollar amounts, particularly with respect to exemptions, the means test, and chapter 13 debt limitations, may wish to delay a bankruptcy filing until the new amounts take effect on April 1, 2019. Despite popular belief, many lower-income bankruptcy filers can retain all or almost all of their assets in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. The new higher exemption limits means that it is even more likely that consumers can protect their assets in a chapter 7 filing.
Consumers in states that have not opted out of the federal exemptions may claim the bankruptcy exemptions under Bankruptcy Code § 522(d), as discussed in NCLC’s Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice § 10.2.1.1. The federal bankruptcy exemptions may also be claimed if the “safe harbor” in Bankruptcy Code § 522(b)(3)(A) applies due to the consumer’s domicile for exemption purposes, even if the state in which the consumer’s domicile is located is otherwise an opt-out state, as discussed in id. § 10.2.1.2. Exemption amounts refer not to the value of property, but to the consumer’s equity in the property after deducting outstanding credit secured by that property. The exemption amounts in Bankruptcy Code § 522(d) are doubled when a married couple files a joint case. 11 U.S.C. § 522(m).
• The minimum aggregate amount of property that a trustee may seek to recover as preference in a case filed by a debtor whose debts are primarily not consumer debts will now be $6,825. 11 U.S.C. § 547(c)(9). This limitation on a trustee’s ability to avoid transfers as a preference is discussed at id. § 10.4.2.6.4.2.
John Rao is an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, where he focuses on consumer credit, mortgage servicing, and bankruptcy issues. Mr. Rao frequently appears as a panelist and instructor at bankruptcy and consumer law trainings and conferences, and serves as an expert witness in court cases. He has testified in Congress on bankruptcy and mortgage servicing matters. Mr. Rao is a contributing author and editor of NCLC’s Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice; and a co-author of NCLC’s Foreclosures and Mortgage Servicing and Bankruptcy Basics. He is also a contributing author to Collier on Bankruptcy and the Collier Bankruptcy Practice Guide. Mr. Rao served as a member of the federal Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules from 2006 to 2012, appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts. He is a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, member of the editorial board of Collier on Bankruptcy, board member of the National Consumer Bankruptcy Rights Center, Commissioner on the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy, and former board member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and the American Bankruptcy Institute. Mr. Rao was the 2017 recipient of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges’ Excellence in Education Award.

References: § 522
 § 10
 § 522
 § 10
 § 522
 § 522
 § 547
 § 10