In re Sinnreich
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
391 F.3d 1295 (2004)
Simon Sinnreich (defendant) declared bankruptcy while owning property with his wife as tenants by the entirety, which under controlling Florida Supreme Court precedent is unreachable by the creditors of only one spouse; Sinnreich argued this property should be exempt from his bankruptcy estate under §522 of the Bankruptcy Code, which exempts entireties property if it's exempt from process under state law. Creditor Frank Musolino objected, relying on United States v. Craft, where the Supreme Court had allowed the IRS to attach a federal tax lien to entireties property despite state law otherwise protecting it; the bankruptcy court and district court sided with Sinnreich, and Musolino appealed.
Whether property held by spouses as tenants by the entirety, exempt from one spouse's individual creditors under state law, remains excludable from that spouse's bankruptcy estate under federal law, or whether a Supreme Court decision allowing IRS tax liens to attach to entireties property should extend to the bankruptcy context.