9th Cir.;
12-60068

The court of appeals reversed a judgment of the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel and remanded. The court held that a bankruptcy estate was entitled to access both prior distributions from a spendthrift trust and a portion of future distributions, with certain restrictions.

Debtor Rick Reynolds was the beneficiary of a spendthrift trust. The trust payments he received came entirely from trust principal. Finding the California Probate Code unclear as to whether and to what extent his creditors might reach his trust distributions, the court certified that question to the California Supreme Court.