In re Portell

557 B.R. 161, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 3301, 2016 WL 4734321
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedSeptember 9, 2016
DocketCase No. 12-44058-13
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 557 B.R. 161 (In re Portell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Portell, 557 B.R. 161, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 3301, 2016 WL 4734321 (Mo. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SPEND INHERITANCE and DENYING THE TRUSTEE’S MOTION TO AMEND PLAN and ORDERING THAT THE DEBTORS OTHERWISE AMEND THEIR PLAN

Arthur B. Federman, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

Chapter 13 Debtors Keith and Michele Portell filed a Motion to spend an inheritance which Keith Portell received postpe-tition. The Debtors are proposing to use a portion of the inheritance pay off all the debts on which Keith Portell is obligated, including the Debtors’ residential mortgage, and keep the rest of the funds; they do not plan to use the funds to pay the debts on which Michele Portell is individually obligated. The Chapter 13 Trustee objects, asserting that all claims in the case should be paid from the inheritance. For the reasons that follow, the Trustee’s Objection will be OVERRULED, and the Debtors’ Motion to Spend Inheritance will be GRANTED. In addition, the Trustee’s Motion to Amend Plan will be DENIED; however, the Debtors will be ordered to amend their Plan to provide that after using the inheritance to pay Keith’s creditors, and the joint creditors, they will continue to make payments until Michele’s creditors receive the same dividend provided in the plan previously confirmed.

The Debtors filed this Chapter 13 bankruptcy case on September 27, 2012. They are below-median. Pursuant to their confirmed plan, allowed unsecured claims are being paid a liquidation analysis pot of $23,130.07, which results in a dividend of 40.334%. According to the Trustee, the Plan is running approximately 63 approximately months.

On July 23, 2015, which was in the thirty-fourth month of the plan, a relative of Keith Portell passed away, leaving Keith an inheritance which included funds in the amount of $221,510.53. The Trustee does not dispute that the Debtors promptly reported the inheritance to him upon receipt. In this motion, the Debtors are proposing to use the inheritance funds to pay all joint and sole debt owed by Keith, including the joint obligation secured by their homestead. They are proposing not to pay the debts for which only Michele is obligated. According to the parties, this will leave approximately $12,000 of Michele’s separate debts unpaid.

The Chapter 13 Trustee objects, asserting that the inheritance should go to pay all of the Debtors’ debts, including Michele’s separate debts. He asserts that the inheritance is: (i) property of the estate under § 1306(a)(1); (ii) income; and (iii) a postpetition change in circumstances under § 1329 of the Bankruptcy Code, requiring [164]*164a modification of the Plan. The Trustee further asserts that, in considering any modification under § 1329, the good faith requirement of § 1325(a)(3) should be considered, and proposing to pay less than 100% of all claims is lacking in good faith under the circumstances.

Is the Inheritance Property of the Estate?

In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case such as the one here:

Property of the estate includes, in addition to the property specified in section 541 of this title ... (a) all property of the kind specified in such section that the debtor acquires after the commencement of the case but before the case is closed, dismissed, or converted to a case under chapter 7, 11, or 12 of this title, whichever occurs first.1

Section 541(a)(1) defines property of the estate exceptionally broadly, to include “all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the case.”2 Without question, had Keith received this inheritance on the day before the bankruptcy filing, it would have been property of his bankruptcy estate pursuant to § 541(a)(1). While most courts have concluded that such a postpetition inheritance is property of the estate in a Chapter 13 case pursuant to § 1306(a)(1),3 a minority of courts disagree,4 and there is no controlling authority in this district.5 Since the Debtors here are “presuming] for the sake of argument an inheritance may be considered as property of the estate” pursuant to §§ 1306(a) and 541,6 and since I am ruling for the Debtors on other grounds, I need not decide that issue here.

However, while the Bankruptcy Code determines what interests constitute property of a bankruptcy estate, state law governs what a debtor’s property interests [165]*165are.7

As relevant here, § 451.250.1 of the Missouri Statutes provides:

All real estate and any personal property, including rights in action, belonging to any man or woman at his or her marriage, or which may have come to him or her during coverture, by gift, bequest or inheritance, or by purchase with his or her separate money or means, or be due as the wages of his or her separate labor, or has grown out of any violation of his or her personal rights, shall, together with all income, increase and profits thereof, be and remain his or her separate property and under his or her sole control, and shall not be liable to be taken by any process of law for the debts of his wife or her husband.8

Under this statute, the inheritance received by Keith is his own separate property which, outside of bankruptcy, cannot involuntarily be taken to pay Michele’s separate debts. The question presented here is whether the filing of the joint bankruptcy case changes that premise.

Section 302 of the Bankruptcy Code authorizes the filing of a joint bankruptcy petition by an individual and the individual’s spouse.9 However, “[although § 302(a) allows a husband and wife to file a petition together which is given only one case number, their two estates remain separate.”10 “Thus, the filing of a joint petition does not in and of itself create a single pool of assets out of which all creditors of the two individuals will be paid, but merely allows the two estates to be jointly administered.”11

Section 302(b) provides that after the commencement of a joint case, “the court shall determine the extent, if any, to which the debtors’ estates shall be consolidated.”12 “Substantive consolidation of two bankruptcy estates ‘means assets and liabilities of both debtors are pooled.’ ”13 This case has not been substantively consolidated, and no one has asked that it be consolidated. That said, in considering a request for substantive consolidation, “a court must determine: (1) whether there is a substantial identity between the assets, liabilities, and handling of financial affairs between the debtor spouses; and (2) whether harm will result from permitting or denying consolidation.”14 “Ultimately, the court must be persuaded that the creditors will suffer greater prejudice in the absence of consolidation than the debtors (and any objecting creditors) will suffer from its imposition.”15 “[Substantive consolidation should be invoked ‘sparingly’ [166]*166when any creditor or debtor objects to its use.”16 “The determination is made on a case-by-case basis through an examination of the extent of jointly held property and jointly owed debts.”17

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
557 B.R. 161, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 3301, 2016 WL 4734321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-portell-mowb-2016.