Conflict of Laws: DOMA, State Law, and the Bankruptcy Code

Abstract

Both the federal and state DOMAs can affect everything in bankruptcy from the creation of the estate to the distribution priority scheme to the availability of exemptions to the discharge of certain debts. This article is intended to alert practitioners to the complexities wrought by the intersection of the Bankruptcy Code, DOMA and the various state laws involving relationship recognition and prohibition, with special emphasis on DOMA's so-called choice of law provision. Unfortunately, at this point there are more questions than answers.