Earl Jensen v. Michael S. Dietz

217 F.3d 1006
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJune 27, 2000
Docket99-2425
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 217 F.3d 1006 (Earl Jensen v. Michael S. Dietz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Earl Jensen v. Michael S. Dietz, 217 F.3d 1006 (8th Cir. 2000).

Opinions

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

Earl Jensen, the personal representative of the probate estate of debtor, Arthur Sholdan, appeals the district court’s1 affir-mance of a bankruptcy court order2 that sustained the bankruptcy trustee’s objection to Sholdan’s homestead exemption. We affirm.

Prior to filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Sholdan liquidated almost all of his nonexempt property consisting of bank accounts, certificates of deposit and a mortgage against his former farmstead, and converted it into exempt property in the form of a house worth approximately $135,000. In his Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, Sholdan listed his new house as an exempt homestead pursuant to Minnesota law. A short while thereafter, Shol-dan died. The trustee of his bankruptcy estate (trustee) objects to Sholdan’s homestead exemption claim on the grounds that Sholdan acquired title to the property in specific contemplation of filing bankruptcy and with the “intent to defraud” his creditors. Therefore, the trustee maintains that Sholdan and his successors in interest should be denied the benefit of the statutory exemption.

The Bankruptcy Code permits debtors to exempt property from the bankruptcy estate pursuant to provisions of state law. See 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(2)(A); In re Johnson, 880 F.2d 78, 79 (8th Cir.1989). The scope of a state-created exemption is determined by state law. See Johnson, 880 F.2d at 79. Minnesota law provides an exemption for an individual’s homestead. See Minn.Stat.Ann. §§ 510.01-.02 (West 1990). However, under section 513.44 of Minnesota’s enactment of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA), a debtor may not claim a homestead exemption when he or she transfers the property “with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud” creditors. See Minn.Stat.Ann. § 513.44(a)(1) (West 1990); Sholdan v. Dietz, 108 F.3d 886, 888 (8th Cir.1997). This same section contains a lengthy list of factors or “badges of fraud” which a court may look to for help in determining actual intent. See Minn. StatAnn. § 513.44(b) (West 1990).

This is the second time this case is before us. In the first appeal, we found the facts did not support the bankruptcy court’s finding that Sholdan had acted with “intent to hinder or delay” but remanded for consideration of the issue of whether Sholdan had acted with “intent to defraud.” See Sholdan v. Dietz, 108 F.3d at 888. On remand, the bankruptcy court found that Sholdan had converted nonexempt property to exempt property with the “intent to defraud.” See In re Sholdan, 218 B.R. 475 (Bankr.D.Minn.1998). Noting that direct evidence of fraudulent intent is rare, the bankruptcy court inferred such intent from applying the “badges of fraud” listed in section 513.44(b). See id. at 481-82. The district [1009]*1009court affirmed the bankruptcy court’s decision. On appeal, Jensen argues that: (1) the bankruptcy court erred in applying the “badges of fraud” to determine whether Sholden acted with an “intent to defraud;” and (2) the .record does not support a finding of such intent.

We review the bankruptcy court’s legal conclusions de novo and its factual findings for clear error. See In re Sherman, 67 F.3d 1348, 1353 (8th Cir.1995). Because the underlying facts in this matter are not disputed, and have been extensively recited by this Court in its earlier decision as well as by the bankruptcy court on remand, we will not attempt to narrate them again.3 Accordingly, we limit our discussion to addressing Jensen’s two points on appeal.

First, we reject the argument that the bankruptcy court erred in applying the badges of fraud set forth in section 513.44(b) of the UFTA. Under Minnesota law, whether fraud exists in a situation involving the conversion of non-exempt to exempt assets is determined by reference to the UFTA. See In re Tveten, 402 N.W.2d 551, 555-56 (Minn.1987) (referring to the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act, the precursor to the UFTA).4 Although Jensen does not dispute that under Tveten, an exemption may be denied under section 513.44 of the UFTA if a debtor had the actual intent to defraud, he nevertheless, argues that it was inappropriate for the bankruptcy court to use the “badges of fraud” listed in that section to infer such intent. Specifically, he claims that Tveten never took the additional step of sanctioning the use of a “badges of fraud” approach and that such an approach is inappropriate for exemption cases. We find this argument to be without merit.

We find the bankruptcy court’s “badges of fraud” approach was appropriate. Although, not specifically referenced by the Minnesota Supreme Court in Tveten, we find such an approach to be implicit in Tveten’s holding that a court look to the standards governing fraudulent transfers for purposes of determining fraud in the exemption context. Use of the “badges of fraud” to infer fraudulent intent in conveyances and transfers is well settled under Minnesota law. See Citizens State Bank v. Leth, 450 N.W.2d 923, 927 (Minn.Ct.App.1990); Argonaut Ins. Co. v. Cooper, 395 N.W.2d 119, 121 (Minn.Ct.App.1986); Weese v. Weese, 191 Minn. 526, 254 N.W. 816, 818 (1934). We think the Tveten court’s omission of a “badges of fraud” reference results from the fact that at the time of the Tveten decision there was no codification of specific badges of fraud, as exists currently under the UFTA, rather than from any desire to preclude the use of such badges. Compare Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act, Minn.Stat.Ann. §§ 513.20-513.32 (West 1986) with Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, Minn.Stat. Ann. §§ 513.41-513.51 (West 1990).

That use of the badges of fraud is appropriate for inferring intent in an exemption case, is also dictated by common sense. Badges of fraud represent nothing more than a list of circumstantial factors that a court may use to infer fraudulent intent. Given the fact that direct evidence of fraud is rare, a court in most instances can only infer fraud by considering circumstantial evidence. See Jackson v. Star Sprinkler Corp., 575 F.2d 1223, 1237 (8th Cir.1978) (“It is elementary that showing the presence of ‘badges of fraud’ [1010]*1010continues to be a means of establishing intent to delay, hinder or defraud creditors.”)- Furthermore, we note that under section 513.44(b), a court is not limited to only those factors or “badges” enumerated, but is free to consider any other factors bearing upon the issue of fraudulent intent. See Minn.Stat.Ann. § 513.44(b). In sum, we find no error in the bankruptcy court’s application of a traditional and well settled approach for determining fraud to a situation involving the conversion of assets from non-exempt to exempt status.5

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Related

In Re Sholdan
217 F.3d 1006 (Eighth Circuit, 2000)

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