Link to Case
Keywords: Bankruptcy Code §522(d)(11)(E) exemption, “future earnings”
Panel: Kearse, Sack, and Katzmann
Opinion by: Kearse
Appeal from: D. Conn. (Bryant, USDJ)
Result below: Affirmed Bankruptcy Court
Result: Affirmed
§522(d)(11)(E) future earnings exemption
The question on appeal is whether the Bankruptcy and District Courts correctly decided that earnings related to the period after the filing of the bankrtuptcy petition are exempted under Bankruptcy Code §522(d)(11)(E), which permits exemption from the bankruptcy estate of “a payment in compensation of loss of future earnings of the debtor … to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor and any dependent of the debtor.” The section is designed “to permit an individual debtor to take out of the estate that property that is necessary for a fresh start and for the support of himself and his dependents.” Slip Op. at 12 (quotation citation omitted).
The Court holds that the Bankruptcy and District Courts “properly interpreted ‘future’ in §522(d)(11)(E) as looking forward from the date of the bankruptcy filing, and therefore “allows an exemption for a loss of any future earnings after creation of th[e bankruptcy] estate.”
