Florida Probate & Trust Litigation Blog: If a married couple transfers their tenants by the entireties (TBE) property to a joint trust, have they forfeited its creditor protection shield? (July 12, 2021)

Juan C. Antúnez, in his Florida Probate & Trust Litigation Blog, discusses the implications of using a joint revocable trust between married couples with regards to creditor protection. The article begins as follows:

If a married couple transfers their tenants by the entireties (TBE) property to a joint revocable trust, have they forfeited its creditor protection shield? That’s the question at the heart of two recent Florida bankruptcy court rulings that came to opposite conclusions!

In In re Givans the court concluded that TBE property’s creditor protection shield is lost when it’s transferred to a joint trust. And in In re Romagnoli the court came to the opposite conclusion, ruling that TBE property’s creditor protection shield is not lost when it’s transferred to a joint trust. But don’t try looking for direct legal conflicts between these two rulings, the judges essentially talk past each other … which got me thinking about the power of “framing.”

To see the full article, click: “If a married couple transfers their tenants by the entireties (TBE) property to a joint trust, have they forfeited its creditor protection shield?”

Posted by Marin Larkin, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.