Court Opinion

ID: 9687181
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:18:02.500623+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:24.721953
License: Public Domain

KATZ, Bankruptcy Judge
(concurring).
I concur with the result reached by the majority; however, I believe that the majority opinion fails to adequately explain the relationship between CCP § 674(c) and 690.31.
Although CCP § 674(c) provides that a judgment creditor’s lien attaches to the property notwithstanding the claim of exemption under CCP § 690.31, that lien does not limit or impair the dwelling house exemption. The reason for this is that under CCP § 690.31(j), the CCP § 674(c) lien is subordinated to the claimed exemption on forced sale by the executing judgment lien creditor. The intent of CCP § 690.31 was to protect debtors from being forcibly removed from their homes without any protection such as is available to debtors who have properly recorded homestead declarations.
The trustee in bankruptcy, standing in the shoes of a hypothetical creditor of the debtor under § 544, has no greater, nor lesser, rights than does an actual judicial lien creditor. Therefore, upon the filing of a claim of exemption under § 522(b), the trustee’s position is subordinated to the claim of exemption as provided by CCP § 690.31(j). That being so, the court below was correct and should be affirmed.