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Tag Archives: Exemptions

Bankruptcy – Exemptions – ‘Wages’ – Proceeds of Car Sale

In re Turner The $5,955.25 balance in the debtor’s bank accounts represents proceeds from the sale of his vehicle in April 2010, not wages earned by the debtor during the 60-day period prior to his May 10, 2012 bankruptcy petition. The court in no way wishes to deter creative advocacy, but it discerns no colorable argument that proceeds from the sale of assets while unemployed fit within the narrow wage exemption in G.S. § 1-362.

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Constitutional – Equal Protection – Smoking Ban – Exemptions – Private Clubs – For Profit vs. Nonprofit

Edwards v. Morrow We read G.S. § 130A-496 to exempt private, nonprofit country clubs from the general prohibition on smoking in restaurants and bars; however, private, for-profit country clubs are not exempt from the ban. Given the General Assembly’s motive for enacting the ban – protection of the public from secondhand smoke – this is a rational, and therefore constitutional, distinction.

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Bankruptcy – Exemptions – Life Insurance – Beneficiary – Trust – Payment to Unsecured Creditors

In re Foster Where the beneficiary of the debtors’ life insurance policies is a trust, and where the trust authorizes payments to the unsecured creditors of the debtor-decedent - creditors who would otherwise have been barred from accessing such funds by the protection offered under N.C. Const. art. X, § 5 - such a trust is not for the “sole use and benefit” of the debtor’s spouse and children, as contemplated by art. X, § 5. The court sustains the trustee’s objection to exemptions claimed in the debtors’ life insurance policies.

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Civil Practice – Judgment – Execution – Exemptions – IRA – Early Withdrawals – Future Withdrawals

Kinlaw v. Harris. Although IRAs are normally exempt from judgment execution, this is to protect a judgment debtor in retirement. A trial court may determine, on a withdrawal-by-withdrawal basis, whether early withdrawals from an IRA are exempt from execution. We affirm the Court of Appeals' holding that G.S. § 1C-1601(a)(9) exempts defendant's IRAs from plaintiff's judgment against defendant. However, we reverse the Court of Appeals' vacation of the trial court's order requiring defendant to place in escrow any funds he may withdraw from his IRAs.

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