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Madoff Claims Florida As Legal Residence

By Mark H. Astarita, Esq.

The story is about the Florida homestead exemption. If you are a Florida resident, it is difficult, if not impossible, for a creditor to take your home from you. It is basically exempt from seizure. We can debate the proprietary of that till the cows come home. It's the law there, it ain't gonna change any time soon, and tons of people have taken advantage of the rule. (Think Bowie Kuhn and the bankruptcy of Myerson & Kuhn.)So no big surprise that Ruth Madoff claims her Palm Beach mansion to be her primary residence. Shielding the 9 million dollar home from creditors is not a bad idea.But the gem in the story is the timing of that claim. In Florida, one needs to claim the "homestead exemption" in order to have the home be your residence and exempt from creditors...continue to full post

Full post as published by SECLaw.com on March 18, 2009 (boomark / email).