Court Opinion

ID: 9479313
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:14:23.781499+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:56.759370
License: Public Domain

JONES, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I cannot disagree with the resolution of this case by my able colleagues and therefore concur, but I must observe that this case has consumed federal judicial resources far disproportionate to its significance. This is a domestic relations dispute masquerading as a bankruptcy case. Only two parties — the former spouses — have participated in the bankruptcy proceedings. It was alleged that the “creditors” are being paid off sub rosa by the ex-husband. All of the bankruptcy court maneuverings have transpired before any property settlement was reached between the ex-spouses in state court. Undoubtedly, the Bankruptcy Code as written permits this type of forum-shopping, but it also provides a safety valve for the federal courts in the form of abstention, 11 U.S.C. § 105, or lifting of the automatic stay to permit property disputes to proceed initially in the state courts. Not all divorce proceedings transpose into an inappropriate bankruptcy case. Where the dispute involves only the warring spouses, however, and centers around the division of their property, bankruptcy courts should keenly assess the possibility of deferring to state domestic relations court jurisdiction.