Criminal Liability for Fraudulent Transfers

In most states, a fraudulent transfer is not a crime. A transfer made to defraud creditors can be undone in every state, and in twenty-five of them, Florida included, that is the end of it: the creditor gets the property back and the debtor faces no charge.

Sixteen states make the transfer itself a crime, and Massachusetts jails the debtor for it on a charge the creditor brings in a civil proceeding. Eight more states make it a crime only once an insolvency proceeding, such as a receivership, is pending or about to begin. Every one of these statutes requires the same intent a creditor proves in a civil case: intent to defraud, hinder, or delay creditors. A transfer without that intent is a crime nowhere, whenever it was made, so planning after a claim arises is lawful in every state.

The penalties range from a fine-only offense in Illinois to a felony, at least for some transfers, in Arkansas, Arizona, Alaska, and Ohio. Prosecutions are rare. Court decisions record charges in four states, Arkansas, Ohio, Alabama, and Massachusetts, plus one California prosecution from 1936, and every one whose facts are recorded was brought against the debtor, with a judgment or a levy already in hand. No state court decision records a prosecution of a lawyer.

These statutes punish the debtor who makes the transfer. A lawyer who helped is not the debtor, so the lawyer can be prosecuted only in two ways: under a statute that also punishes someone other than the debtor, or as an accomplice under the state’s general accomplice law. Six states punish anyone who is a party to the conveyance, not only the debtor, and most of the statutes also reach a person who receives the property. A lawyer who only gave advice can be charged, if at all, as an accomplice, and most accomplice statutes require intent to promote the offense, not mere knowledge of it.

Federal law is the same in all fifty states once a bankruptcy is in view. Transferring or concealing a debtor’s property in contemplation of a bankruptcy case is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 152, and every conviction of a lawyer for a debtor’s transfer has been federal. Each of those lawyers did more than advise: one drafted the deed and signed it as president of the debtor’s corporation (United States v. Ledée, 1st Cir. 2014), one backdated stock certificates and drafted false schedules (United States v. Webster, 7th Cir. 1997), and one hid the money in her own trust account (United States v. Kowalski, 7th Cir. 2024). The one prosecution built on advice and a trust account produced no conviction that stood (United States v. Knight, 8th Cir. 2015).

Whether a creditor can sue the lawyer for the transfer is a different question, answered state by state on the attorney liability page.

The Fifty-State Chart

The chart gives each state’s statute, when the transfer is a crime, the grade and penalty, and the prosecutions on record.

Current as of September 2026. Download the criminal liability by state chart (PDF).

State	Statute	When the transfer is a crime	Grade and maximum penalty	Prosecutions on record
Alabama	Ala. Code § 13A-9-47	Transfer made to defraud a judgment creditor	Class B misdemeanor	None to judgment; one sworn creditor complaint led to an arrest in 2002 and a dismissal in 2003 (McCord)
Alaska	Alaska Stat. § 11.46.730(a)(2)	Transfer made to defraud an existing judgment creditor	Class A misdemeanor; class C felony at a $750 loss to the creditor, class B felony at $25,000	None located
Arizona	Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 44-1217, 13-2205	Transfer made to defraud, hinder, or delay any creditor (§ 44-1217); to defraud a judgment creditor (§ 13-2205)	Class 2 misdemeanor (§ 44-1217); class 6 felony against a judgment creditor (§ 13-2205)	None located
Arkansas	Ark. Code Ann. § 5-37-211	Transfer made with purpose to defraud, knowing a civil suit has been filed or is about to be	Class D felony	One conviction affirmed: Cotnam v. State (1991), three-year suspended sentence and restitution
California	Cal. Penal Code § 154	Transfer made to defraud, hinder, or delay creditors	Misdemeanor; county jail up to one year, fine up to $1,000 (felony only for stock in trade worth over $250)	One located: People v. Gainfort (1936), charged as a conspiracy to violate § 531; two attorney discipline decisions describe the lawyer’s participation as a § 531 crime (Yokozeki 1974, Allen 1977); a third suspended a lawyer for advising the conveyance (Townsend 1948)
Colorado	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Connecticut	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Delaware	Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 892	Only after a receiver has been appointed or a composition made, with intent to defraud a creditor	Class A misdemeanor	None located
Florida	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Georgia	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Hawaii	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Idaho	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Illinois	720 ILCS 5/17-27(b)	Transfer made to defraud, defeat, hinder, or delay the debtor’s own creditors	Business offense; fine only, up to $1,000	None located
Indiana	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Iowa	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Kansas	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Kentucky	Ky. Rev. Stat. § 517.070	Transfer made to defraud a judgment creditor	Class A misdemeanor	None located
Louisiana	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Maine	Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 902(1)(B)	Only when a proceeding to appoint an administrator has begun or is about to; ‘administrator’ includes a trustee in bankruptcy	Class D crime	None located
Maryland	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Massachusetts	Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 224, § 19	Civil charge filed by the creditor in supplementary process; a guilty finding carries up to one year in jail; no criminal statute	Jail up to one year on the creditor’s charge; a corporation or trust with transferable shares is fined up to $1,000	Restuccia v. Bonner (1934): guilty on both charges before a jury; no appellate decision on a § 19 charge since the 1940s
Michigan	Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.6085	Transfer made to defraud any creditor	Misdemeanor	None located
Minnesota	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Mississippi	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Missouri	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Montana	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Nebraska	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Nevada	Nev. Rev. Stat. 205.350	Transfer made to defraud, hinder, or delay creditors	Gross misdemeanor	None located
New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 638:9, II	Only when the actor knows a proceeding to appoint an administrator has begun or is about to	Misdemeanor	None located
New Jersey	N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:21-13	Only when the actor knows a receivership, composition, or liquidation has begun or is about to	Fourth-degree crime; third degree above $1,000 in benefit, second degree at $75,000	None located
New Mexico	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
New York	N.Y. Penal Law § 185.00	Only when the actor knows an administrator’s appointment or a composition has begun or is about to	Class A misdemeanor	None located
North Carolina	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
North Dakota	N.D. Cent. Code § 13-01-12	Transfer made to defraud any creditor	Class A misdemeanor	None located
Ohio	Ohio Rev. Code § 2913.45	Transfer made with purpose to defraud the debtor’s creditors	First-degree misdemeanor; fifth-degree felony at $1,000, fourth-degree at $7,500, third-degree at $150,000	Two convictions, both reversed on appeal: Glasure (1999), Mastrobuono (2024)
Oklahoma	Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 1672	Transfer made to defraud any creditor	Misdemeanor	None located
Oregon	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Pennsylvania	18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 4111	Only when the actor knows a receivership, composition, or liquidation has begun or is about to	Second-degree misdemeanor	None located
Rhode Island	R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-18-25	Transfer made to defraud creditors while the debtor is insolvent	Up to two years’ imprisonment	None located
South Carolina	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
South Dakota	S.D. Codified Laws §§ 54-8-20, 54-8-22	Transfer made to delay or defraud any creditor	Class 1 misdemeanor, up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine; class 6 felony, up to two years and a $4,000 fine, for a party to the conveyance	None located; a judgment creditor’s civil claim under § 54-8-22 against non-debtors was allowed to proceed in 2021 (Cup O’ Dirt)
Tennessee	Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-117	Only when a proceeding to appoint a trustee or receiver has begun or is about to; the statute states no knowledge element	Class E felony	None located
Texas	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Utah	Utah Code Ann. § 76-6-511(2)(b)	Only when the actor knows a proceeding to appoint an administrator has begun or is about to	Class A misdemeanor; third-degree felony where the balance owed is $10,000 or more	None located
Vermont	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Virginia	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Washington	Wash. Rev. Code 9.45.080	Transfer made to keep property from being applied to the debtor’s debts or levied on	Gross misdemeanor	None located
West Virginia	W. Va. Code § 61-3-24(c)	Transfer made to defraud any creditor	Misdemeanor; fine up to $2,500 and jail up to one year	None located
Wisconsin	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge
Wyoming	No transfer offense	Not a crime. The creditor’s remedy is to have the transfer set aside.	No offense	No offense to charge