Posted by NCBRC - March 7th, 2014
For the seventh time Kansas’s bankruptcy-specific exemption for earned income tax credit (EITC) has emerged unscathed from constitutional challenge. Williamson v. Murray (In re Murray), No. 13-34 and Williamson v. Beach (In re Beach) No. 13-37 (B.A.P. 10th Cir. March 4, 2014) (cases administratively merged). Read More
Posted by NCBRC - August 19th, 2013
Despite relentless attacks by the bankruptcy trustees Kansas’s bankruptcy-only exemption scheme, under which a debtor in bankruptcy is permitted to exempt his Earned Income Tax Credit, has once again been deemed constitutional. Nazar v. Lea (In re Lea), No. 12-1297 (D. Kans. Aug. 16, 2013), consolidated with Parks v. Hudson (In re Hudson), No. 12-1298. The exemption benefits low income families with dependent children by treating the excess of EITC credit over taxes owed as an overpayment of taxes and refunding the difference. Read More
Posted by NCBRC - February 6th, 2013
The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Tenth Circuit found that Kansas’s bankruptcy-only exemption scheme, under which a debtor in bankruptcy is permitted to exempt his Earned Income Tax Credit, is constitutional. Williamson v. Westby (In re Westby), No. 12-27 (B.A.P. 10th Cir. Feb. 4, 2013). Read More
Posted by NCBRC - August 20th, 2012
In a comprehensive opinion, the Sixth Circuit today joined the Fourth Circuit and upheld bankruptcy-specific exemptions against a challenge based on the Bankruptcy and Supremacy Clauses of the Constitution. Richardson v. Schafer (In re Schafer), No. 11-1340 (6th Cir. Aug. 20, 2012) (rev’g 455 B.R. 590 (B.A.P. 6th Cir. 2011)). See also Sheehan v. Peveich, 574 F.3d 248, 252 (4th Cir. 2009). Read More
Posted by NCBRC - April 5th, 2012
In a lengthy and comprehensive opinion, Judge Karlin of the Bankruptcy Court of Kansas, overruled the trustee’s objection to debtor’s claimed exemption for earned income tax credits under a state bankruptcy-only exemption scheme. In re Westby, No. 11-40986, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 1428, (Bankr. Kan. April 4, 2012).The trustee had challenged the exemption in Westby and several other cases based on the contention that the state exemption violated the Uniformity and Supremacy Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Read More