Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Tennessee

Assets In Another's Name

If this is a Uniform Transfer To Minors Account with you as the custodian, it is not your property and would not be part of your bankruptcy estate. If it is not a Uniform Transfer To Minors Account, it appears as though you have the power to withdraw and control where the money goes, which would make the money part of your bankruptcy estate. How is the account titled,in your name or the grandchild's?

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Assets held in another's name

How old is the child?

How is it that you have access to it? (Is it a quiet arrangementwith the bank officers?) If your name is on the account as joint holder, and if there's no other law governing (e.g., Uniform Transfer To Minor's Act or Uniform Gift to Minor's Act,it could be in jeopardy.

In general, the bankruptcy trustee stepsinto your shoes and can take any assets that you would have accessto, as a general rule. But UTMA and UGMA (the Uniform Acts above)would specifically limit your taking those assets for any purposeother than for the direct benefit of the minor (18 or 21) child.

Did you transfer those funds to the account yourself? When (relative to the actions which incurred the debt or relative to your filing forbankruptcy)?

Do you have an attorney handling your bankruptcy? If not, are you sure you don't want one? This question has elements of state law (esp. ifit's a state law bankruptcy!) and you should probably get the opinion ofan attorney trained in your state's laws, not someone from another state(me!). But I'm curous to hear the answers to my questions nevertheless.