Battley v. Mortensen, No. A09-90036-DMD, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 5004 (Bankr. D. Ak. May 26, 2011)

(debtor created self-settled asset-protection trust under state law on Feb. 1, 2005; trust created for debtor's benefit and benefit of debtor's heirs with the express purpose of shielding assets from creditors; debtor's mother named trust protector; trust funded with $80,000 cash and remote real estate valued at $60,000; debtor accumulates over $250,000 of debt (primarily credit card debt) largely as result of contested divorce, shrinking market for his business and illness, and files Chapter 7 four and one-half years after creating trust; trusts assets not listed as part of bankruptcy estate; bankruptcy trustee claimed that transfers to trust void under 11 U.S.C. Sec. 548(e) - which was added by BAPCPA to close self-settled trust loophole in five states that authorized them, including Alaska; court voided transfers because evidence established that debtor's financial status declining before trust created which led to conclusion that transfers made with intent to hinder, delay and defraud present or future creditors; BAPCPA extended statute of limitations to ten years in cases where it appears a transfer occurred to shield assets from creditors).