## Facts

- Simon Sinnreich filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition in Florida; his wife did not file.
- Sinnreich and his wife owned certain real property and household goods as tenants by the entireties under Florida law.
- Sinnreich’s listed debts were owed to creditors holding claims against him individually, not against both spouses jointly.
- Sinnreich claimed the entireties property as exempt, asserting that Florida law bars execution on entireties property for the individual debts of one spouse.
- The Chapter 13 trustee objected, arguing the entireties property should be administered for creditors in the bankruptcy case.
- The bankruptcy court sustained the trustee’s objection, and the district court affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether property held by a Chapter 13 debtor and a non-debtor spouse as tenants by the entireties under Florida law may be treated as estate property available to satisfy the debtor’s individual creditors when there are no joint creditors.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit reversed.
- The court held that, under Florida law and the Bankruptcy Code’s exemption scheme, the debtor’s interest in tenancy-by-the-entireties property was exempt as against individual creditors.
- Because the property was exempt from process under applicable nonbankruptcy law, it could not be administered for the benefit of the debtor’s individual creditors in the Chapter 13 case.

## Legal Principles

- The bankruptcy estate generally includes the debtor’s legal and equitable interests in property at filing under 11 U.S.C. § 541(a).
- Under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(2)(B) (as applicable at the time), a debtor may exempt an interest in tenancy-by-the-entireties property to the extent the interest is exempt from process under applicable nonbankruptcy law.
- Under Florida law, tenancy-by-the-entireties property is not subject to levy by the individual creditors of one spouse; it is reachable only by creditors holding joint claims against both spouses.
- Bankruptcy exemption law is designed to preserve, not expand, the rights of individual creditors as compared to what they could obtain outside bankruptcy under state law.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit held that, where only one spouse files Chapter 13 in Florida and there are no joint creditors, property owned as tenants by the entireties with the non-debtor spouse is exempt from the debtor’s individual creditors and is not available for administration in the bankruptcy case.


In re Sinnreich, 391 F.3d 1295 (11th Cir. 2004)