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purchasers from unrecorded conveyances was effective to protect those purchasers from the trustee's avoidance attack, which was based not on § 549(a) but on the transfer being void (§ 549(c) provides a defense to the purchasers if the attack was under § 549(a)). The panel also held that under Schwartz v. United States (In re Schwartz, 954 F.2d 569 (9th Cir. 1992), the automatic stay of § 362 protects the debtor from creditors, and a postpetition transfer by the debtor is not void as in violation of the stay. Burkart v. Coleman (In re Tippett), 542 F.3d 684 (9th Cir. 2008).
Debtors' use of credit card to transfer balances is preferential transfer of interest. When the debtors used one credit card within preference period to pay off balances on other cards, a transfer of the "interest of the debtors in property" occurred for § 547 purposes, with the Tenth Circuit agreeing with the majority view that the debtors had control over the disposition of the new funds and reversing the lower courts. Earmarking doctrine does not protect the transfer. Parks v. FIA Card Servs. (In re Marshall), ___ F.3d ___, 2008 WL 5401418 (10th Cir. Dec. 30, 2008).
Under New York law, spouse's beneficiary interest in life insurance not property of estate. In Chapter 7 trustee's objection to debtor's exemption claim for cash surrender value of life insurance, spouses in jointly-filed case had two separate bankruptcy estates, unless substantively consolidated, and trustee could not reach cash surrender values of reciprocal life insurance policies that each debtor had, with the other spouse named as beneficiary. Under New York law, the beneficiary has no vested interest in the policy subject to trustee's administration. The court discusses effect of § 302 joint filings on separate estates. Wornick v. Gaffney, 544 F.3d 486 (2d Cir. 2008).
Debtor's beneficial interest in self-settled spendthrift trust reachable by trustee. Under California law, Chapter 7 debtor's beneficial interest in self-settled spendthrift trust was not protected from the trustee or
©2009 Hon. William Houston Brown
