In our personal lives, we fear abandonment. Parents stay with children, lovers and spouses remain true to one another. To be abandoned is to be forsaken, cast to the four winds.
But when you’re talking about bankruptcy, there’s a freedom in abandonment. As with a jilted lover, abandoned property is freed from the chains that bind it. Once abandoned, property can be sold, transferred, used (and abused) to your heart’s content.
Under Section 541 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, just about everything you own becomes the property of the bankruptcy estate the minute you file for bankruptcy. The estate is a figment of your imagination inasmuch as it’s not a flesh-and-blood person, but it’s very real to the extent that your property now belongs to that figment.
Some property can be exempted – in other words, you can remain in control of it subject to certain limitations. Other property is exempted, which means it never comes into the estate in the first place.
For the rest of your stuff, it doesn’t belong to you once your case is filed.
In order for you to regain control, the trustee needs to abandon the property. Without abandonment, you can’t do anything with it.
Under Section 554 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, property is abandoned in one of two ways:
- after a motion is made to the court by either the trustee or a party in interest to the case demanding abandonment of property that is considered burdensome or of inconsequential value and benefit to the estate; or
- unless the court orders otherwise, the closing of the case serves to abandon property that hasn’t been administered by the trustee.
It’s fitting that we begin the Bankruptcy Alphabet with a term that carries such negative connotations in real life yet positive ones within the context of debt relief. I think it serves to underscore just how strange the world of bankruptcy truly is, and the fact that often we need to check logic at the door when dealing in matters of bankruptcy.
Other Lawyers Playing The Bankruptcy Alphabet Game:
- Wisconsin Bankruptcy Lawyer, Bret Nason
- Columbus, Ohio Bankruptcy Lawyer, Athena Inembolidis
- Philadelphia Bankruptcy Lawyer, Kimberly Coleman
- Philadelphia Suburban Bankruptcy Lawyer, Chris Carr
- Lakewood, CA Bankruptcy Attorney, Christine A. Wilton
- Cleveland Area Bankruptcy Attorney Bill Balena
- San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorney, Jeena Cho
- Hawaii Bankruptcy Attorney, Stuart Ing
- Jacksonville Bankruptcy Attorney, Monica D. Shepard
- Marin County Bankruptcy Attorney, Catherine Eranthe
- Metro Richmond Consumer and Bankruptcy Attorney, Mitchell Goldstein
- Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer, Cathy Moran
- Los Angeles Bankruptcy Lawyer, Mark J. Markus
- Taylor Michigan Bankruptcy Attorney, Christopher McAvoy
- Newnan, Georgia Bankruptcy Lawyer, Rick Palmer
- Law Offices of Daniel J. Winter
- Chicago Bankruptcy Attorney, Kyle A. Lindsey
- Connecticut Bankruptcy Lawyer William E. Carter
- Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska Bankruptcy Attorney, Ryan D. Caldwell
- Colorado Springs Bankruptcy Lawyer Bob Doig
- Ormond Beach Bankruptcy Attorney, Lewis Roberts
- St. Louis, Missouri Bankruptcy Attorney, Nancy Martin
- Miami Bankruptcy Attorney, Dorota Trzeciecka
- Pittsburgh Bankruptcy Attorney, Shawn N. Wright
- Livonia Michigan Bankruptcy Attorney, Peter Behrmann
I’m going with A for asset
http://www.bankruptcyhi.com/2011/11/a-is-for-assets/