California’s New Uniform Voidable Transactions Act Effective January 1, 2016Last July, California became the seventh state to enact the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (‘UVTA”), which supersedes the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (“UFTA”) and makes it easier for creditors to recover assets transferred to third parties when a debtor becomes insolvent, regardless of the intent.

The new law applies to transactions made or obligations incurred on or after January 1, 2016. The intent behind the name change was to clarify that the law itself focuses on avoiding transfers made or obligations incurred by insolvent debtors who may agree to transfer the debt for lesser value, even if there was no fraud or improper intent.

Key changes from the UFTA include:

  • Creditors will only need to establish a claim by a “preponderance of the evidence” rather than the higher standard of “clear and convincing evidence.”
  • A party defending a claim must successfully rebut the presumption that the debtor was insolvent at the time of the transfer and show that the debt was transferred for a reasonably equivalent value and in good faith.
  • Creditors have additional remedies when asserting a UVTA claim, including the ability to obtain a pre-judgment attachment of a transferee’s assets in general, rather than being limited to the transferred asset or its proceeds.

UVTA claims are now governed by the state where the debtor is located at the time a transfer is made or an obligation incurred. For an individual, this is his or her personal residence; for an organization, it is the primary place of business or, in the case of multiple offices, where the CEO’s office is located.

The attorneys at Glass & Goldberg in California provide high quality, cost-effective legal services and advice for clients in all aspects of commercial compliance, business litigation and transactional law. Call us at (818) 888-2220, send an email inquiry to info@glassgoldberg.com or visit us online at glassgoldberg.com to learn more about the firm and to sign up for future newsletters.

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