Goodrich

Robert L. Goodrich, the Chapter 7 trustee for the bankruptcy estates of Alex Michaels, aka Alexis Michaels, aka Alex Schwarzkopf (“Michaels”), and Joanne Louise Michaels, aka Joanne Louise Schwarzkopf (collectively, “the Debtors”), seeks to recover for the estates’ benefit approximately $4 million in assets. Goodrich alleges that the Debtors fraudulently transferred those assets to two irrevocable trusts known as the Apartment Trust and the Grove Trust and that the district court erred in holding that neither trust is Mi-chaels’s alter ego. On cross-appeal, the *1035 Debtors contend that the district court erred in holding that the Apartment Trust is invalid and may therefore be disregarded.

“We apply the same standard of review to the bankruptcy court findings as does the district court: findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard, and conclusions of law, de novo.” Christensen v. Tucson Estates, Inc. (In re Tucson Estates, Inc.), 912 F.2d 1162, 1166 (9th Cir.1990). On de novo review of the district court’s decision, id., we conclude that the Apartment Trust is invalid and that the Grove Trust is Michaels’s alter ego. We therefore affirm the…