In Re Calvin

28 B.R. 52, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3221
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 29, 1982
Docket19-05740
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 28 B.R. 52 (In Re Calvin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Calvin, 28 B.R. 52, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3221 (Ill. 1982).

Opinion

ORDER

LAWRENCE FISHER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter coming on to be heard upon the Debtor’s Motion to Amend his B-4 Schedule of Exempt Property, and the Trustee’s Response thereto, and the parties appearing by their respective attorneys, and

The Court having examined the pleadings filed in this matter, and having received and examined the Memoranda of Law submitted by the parties in support of their respective positions, and having heard the arguments of counsel, and the Court being fully advised in the premises;

The Court Finds:

*54 1. On October 29, 1980 ROBERT M. CALVIN, Debtor herein, filed a voluntary petition under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. At that time, the Debtor claimed an exemption in the sum of $7,500.00 in his residence located at 245 Shoreline Road, Lake Barrington, Illinois.

2. On March 2, 1981 the automatic stay was lifted so as to allow a secured creditor to foreclose on the 245 Shoreline Road property.

3. On September 30, 1981 the Debtor filed a Motion to Amend his B-4 Schedule of Exempt Property to delete the 245 Shoreline Road property as exempt and claim, pursuant to section 522(d)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code, a $7,500.00 interest in property located in Hibbing, Minnesota, and also $806.54 received as back pay.

4. Bankruptcy Rule 110 allows a Debtor to amend his schedules as a “matter of course” anytime before the case is closed. A Debtor’s Motion to Amend Exemptions under Rule 110 may not be denied unless bad faith on the part of the Debtor is shown or third parties "will be prejudiced by the allowance of the amendment. In re Doan, 672 F.2d 831 (11th Cir.1982). See also this Court’s decision in In re Alesia, 28 B.R. 46 (Bkrtcy.N.D.Ill.1982).

5. In the case at bar, no bad faith on the part of the Debtor has been shown. Further, no third party will be prejudiced by the allowance of the $806.54 of back pay as exempt property. Accordingly, the Debtor’s Motion to Amend his Schedule of Exempt Property so as to add $806.54 of back pay as exempt is allowed.

6. The Debtor’s Motion to Amend his Schedule of Exempt Property so as to add his $7,500.00 interest in the Hibbing, Minnesota property and delete the 245 Shoreline Road property as exempt, however, is allowed only in part and is denied in part. To allow the amendment in full with respect to the Hibbing, Minnesota property would prejudice third parties.

7.The Trustee argues that the allowance of the amendment will be prejudicial because prior to the Motion to Amend, the Trustee had rendered services and incurred legal fees and expenses in relation to the Hibbing, Minnesota property that would have been unnecessary if the Debtor had originally claimed the exemption which he now seeks to claim. Further, the Trustee claims that if the Debtor had not claimed the 245 Shoreline Road property as exempt, the Trustee would have had the right to collect rental income on the property.

8. If the amendment with respect to the Hibbing, Minnesota property were allowed in full, it is possible that some of the now unnecessary attorney fees and expenses incurred by the Trustee could be paid out of the Debtor’s exempt property. Section 522(k) of the Bankruptcy Code provides as follows:

(k) Property that the debtor exempts under this section is not liable for payment of any administrative expense except—
(l) the aliquot share of the costs and expenses of avoiding a transfer of property that the debtor exempts under subsection (g) of this section, or of recovery of such property, that is attributable to the value of the portion of such property exempted in relation to the value of the property recovered;

To the extent that the attorney fees and expenses unnecessarily incurred by the Trustee could be paid from the Debtor’s exempt property pursuant to section 522(k), there would be no prejudice in allowing the amendment as to the Hibbing, Minnesota property. However, section 522(k) permits only certain attorney fees and expenses to be paid from the Debtor’s exempt property.

9. If some or all of the attorney fees and expenses unnecessarily incurred by the Trustee are not of the kind specified in section 522(k), those fees and expenses can not be paid from the Debtor’s exempt property. If said fees and expenses were paid from monies in the estate, creditors of the estate would be prejudiced by an allowance of an amendment in full with respect to the Hibbing, Minnesota property. Assets of the estate would be dissipated to pay expenses *55 unnecessarily incurred in reliance on the Debtor’s original Schedule of Exemptions. If money was not available in the estate to pay these attorney fees and expenses, the Trustee would be prejudiced by an allowance of an amendment in full with respect to the Hibbing, Minnesota property.

Accordingly, this Court allows the Debtor to amend his Schedule of Exempt Property to include the Hibbing, Minnesota property to the extent the Trustee and the creditors of the estate are not prejudiced by such amendment. This requires that the amount of the exemption that the Debtor would have otherwise been entitled to claim be decreased by the amount of money the estate will have to pay, or would have to pay if it had sufficient monies available, in order to reimburse the Trustee for the now unnecessary legal fees and expenses incurred by the Trustee. This deduction in the amount of the exemption allowed would be based only on those legal fees and expenses unnecessarily incurred that are not entitled to be paid directly from the exempt property pursuant to section 522(k).

In summary, the Debtor’s Motion to Amend his Schedule of Exempt Property is denied to the extent necessary to cure the prejudice to the Trustee and creditors of the estate that otherwise would result from an allowance of an amendment in full. The amount of money the estate will have to disburse in order to reimburse the Trustee in full for the now unnecessary legal fees and expenses incurred, which are not payable from the Debtor’s exempt property, pursuant to section 522(k), is dependent upon the total dollar amount owed by the estate for section 503(b) administrative expenses. Attorney fees and expenses incurred by the Trustee are administrative expenses under section 503(b)(2). Administrative expenses under section 503(b) are entitled to first priority payment and are paid as a class on a pro rata basis. This category of claims includes claims other than attorney fees and expenses. For example, all actual, necessary costs and expenses of preserving the estate are first priority administrative expenses. Thus, if the now unnecessary legal fees and expenses incurred by the Trustee, excluding those entitled to payment from exempt property pursuant to section 522(k), amounted to $2,000.00, and if the estate were liable for an additional $3,000.00 of first priority administrative expenses, the estate would have to pay out $5,000.00 in order for the Trustee to be reimbursed in full for the now unnecessary legal fees and expenses incurred.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Sacco
99 B.R. 647 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1989)
In Re Jelinek
97 B.R. 429 (N.D. Illinois, 1989)
Estate of Patel v. Patel (In Re Patel)
43 B.R. 500 (N.D. Illinois, 1984)
Iannacone v. Hill (In Re Hill)
39 B.R. 599 (D. Minnesota, 1984)
In Re Drake
39 B.R. 75 (E.D. New York, 1984)
Matter of Elliott
31 B.R. 33 (S.D. Ohio, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 B.R. 52, 1982 Bankr. LEXIS 3221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-calvin-ilnb-1982.