In Re Scott

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The issue presented is whether the debt- or may utilize 11 U.S.C. § 522 (f)(1) to avoid a Family Law Attorney’s Real Property Lien recorded, according to California law, by his former spouse’s family law counsel. I conclude that the debtor may not avoid such a lien and, accordingly, deny his motion.

I. FACTS

Debtor filed his voluntary chapter 7 petition on March 19, 2008. The initially filed schedules included Schedule A, listing the debtor’s interest in real property located at 6950 Solano Drive in Camarillo, California. Schedule A reflected a current value of $950,000, subject to a secured claim of $1,095,084. Schedule C, filed March 19, 2008, did not claim a homestead exemption. On June 18, 2008, amended schedules were filed, including an amended Schedule C which claimed a homestead exemption under Cal.Code of Civ. Pro. § 703.140(b)(5) in the amount of $25 in the Solano Drive residence. No objections to the debtor’s claims of exemption have been filed.

Long before the commencement of debt- or’s case, dissolution proceedings between the debtor and his then wife commenced in the Fall of 2005. Mrs. Scott engaged Fer guson Case Orr Paterson LLP (“Ferguson…