Brundege v. Brundege (In Re Brundege)

359 B.R. 22, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 59, 2007 WL 64087
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 10, 2007
Docket19-60139
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 359 B.R. 22 (Brundege v. Brundege (In Re Brundege)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brundege v. Brundege (In Re Brundege), 359 B.R. 22, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 59, 2007 WL 64087 (N.Y. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM-DECISION, FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND ORDER

STEPHEN D. GERLING, Chief Judge.

Under consideration by the Court is the complaint filed by Jill R. Brundege (“Plaintiff’) on a pro se basis on September 13, 2005. The Court interpreted the complaint as seeking relief pursuant to § 523(a)(5), § 523(a)(15) and § 727(a)(2) *25 and (4) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 101-1330 (“Code”). An answer to the complaint was originally filed on November 26, 2005, by Eric Brundege (the “Debtor”). On December 23, 2005, the Debtor filed a motion for summary judgment, which was denied by Order of the Court on March 6, 2006. The Order of March 6th required that the Plaintiff file and serve an amended complaint “with factual details to support the allegations in her Complaint within 20 days_” (Adv. Pro. Docket No. 20). The Plaintiff subsequently filed an amended complaint on March 15, 2006 (“Amended Complaint”). On March 24, 2006, the Debtor filed his answer to the Plaintiffs Amended Complaint.

A trial was held on June 8, 2006, in Utica, New York. At the close of the Plaintiffs case, the Debtor requested that the complaint be dismissed on the basis that the Plaintiff had failed to meet her burden of proof. The Court reserved on-the Debt- or’s motion and allowed the Debtor to present proof in support of his answer. At the close of the Debtor’s proof and in lieu of closing arguments, the Court afforded the parties an opportunity to file memo-randa of law. The matter was submitted for decision on July 7, 2006.

JURISDICTIONAL STATEMENT

The Court has core jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter of this adversary proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334(b), 157(a), (b)(1), and (b)(2)(I) and (J).

FACTS

The Debtor filed a voluntary petition pursuant to chapter 7 of the Code on June 21, 2005. According to the testimony of the Plaintiff, at the time of the trial she and the Debtor had been married for eleven years. Their son, Jordan, was seven years old. Plaintiff testified that she moved out of the marital residence, located at 29 Victoria Drive, Binghamton, New York (the “Premises”), on November 12, 2004. Subsequently, the Plaintiff commenced an action in New York State Supreme Court, Broome County (“State Court”), seeking a divorce from the Debt- or. At the time of trial, the action was still pending and no determination of equitable distribution or alimony had been made and no judgment of divorce entered. 1 However, according to the Plaintiff, an order for child support was entered by the State Court on June 10, 2005.

Debtor did not list the Plaintiff as a creditor in his schedules. He did list her as a codebtor on what he identified in Schedule D as secured debts allegedly owed to National City Mortgage and Visions Federal Credit Union (“Visions”). See Schedule H. According to the Debtor’s schedules, a debt was owed to Chase Bank on a credit card account which he estimated to total approximately $9,000 at the time he filed his petition. See Schedule F. Debtor did not list the Plaintiff as a co-debtor on that credit card debt. However, according to the Plaintiffs testimony, she had been paying on a credit card account with Chase Bank because it was in both of their names.

The Plaintiff also testified that she had been paying on a home equity line of credit with Visions in the principal amount of approximately $30,000. According to the Plaintiff, she had signed the application for the line of credit in July 2002 but had not *26 realized that the Debtor had borrowed approximately $30,000 on it until the two separated and she was contacted by Visions. She testified that she had been paying on that debt in order to prevent foreclosure of the Premises. There was also testimony that the Debtor had transferred title to the Premises to the Plaintiff in August 2005 with the consent of the chapter 7 trustee. 2

Although not listed in the Debtor’s original Statement of Financial Affairs, according to the Amended Statement of Financial Affairs, the Debtor transferred $59,889.77 to National City Mortgage in March 2005. See Amended Statement of Financial Affairs at ¶ 3A. It was the Debtor’s testimony that the payment was in the form of insurance proceeds paid following a fire at the Premises in December 2004. Also not listed in the original Statement of Financial Affairs is a payment to Plaintiff on March 27, 2005, in the amount of $5,605, written on the checking account of the Debtor’s mother, Georgia Brundege. Id. at ¶¶ 3B and 10. The Debtor explained that he had received, a check from State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (“State Farm”), dated December 26, 2004, payable to him and the Plaintiff in the amount of $11,209.99. See Plaintiffs Exhibit G. Because his checking account with Visions was frozen at the time, he testified that he had endorsed the check by signing both his and the Plaintiffs name and depositing it into his mother’s account. In turn, on or about December 27, 2004, his mother wrote a check payable to the Plaintiff for half of the amount of the original check or $5,605.

Also omitted from the Debtor’s original Statement of Financial Affairs was any mention of the loss incurred in connection with the fire at the Premises in December 2004. It was, however, listed in his Amended Statement of Financial Affairs. Id. at ¶ 8. The Debtor explained that because he had received payment from State Farm under an insurance policy on the Premises, he did not consider it a loss.

In her complaint, the Plaintiff raised an issue concerning a 1995 Buick LeSabre that the Debtor was driving at the time he filed his petition. The vehicle was listed in Schedule B with a value of $1,400. See Schedule B. It was also claimed by the Debtor as exempt. See Schedule C. The Debtor testified that in June 2005, the same month in which he filed his bankruptcy petition, he had transferred his 1999 Chevrolet Blazer to his aunt in exchange for the Buick. His aunt, in turn, had received a credit of $1,700 in trade on a new car. The transfer of the Blazer was not listed in the original Statement of Financial Affairs but was identified in the Amended Statement of Financial Affairs at ¶ 10. According to the Debtor, he made the exchange with his aunt because the Blazer was in need of extensive repairs, and he needed reliable transportation to travel to and from his work.

Debtor also failed to list a hockey card collection in his original Statement of Financial Affairs. In his Amended Statement of Financial Affairs, he lists the collection as being held by him in the basement of his mother’s house in End-well, New York, where he was residing. According to the Debtor, he had not listed the collection as personal property in his original schedules because he considered it to belong to his son, Jordan.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
359 B.R. 22, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 59, 2007 WL 64087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brundege-v-brundege-in-re-brundege-nynb-2007.