In re Shields

586 B.R. 315
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedMarch 15, 2018
DocketCase No. 17–30321
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 586 B.R. 315 (In re Shields) 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 Shields, 586 B.R. 315 (Mo. 2018).

Opinion

HONORABLE BRIAN T. FENIMORE, United States Bankruptcy Judge

The court must determine whether Debtors Wallace and Deborah Shields may exempt under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 513.430.1(10)(e) (2016) ("(10)(e)") some or all of the payments Wallace receives from his former employer Southwest Missouri Bank ("SMB") pursuant to a Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan ("SERP"). Because the Shieldses still owe SMB on three loans, the court must also determine whether SMB has a right of setoff that it may enforce against any portion of the SERP payments.

For the reasons set forth below, the court determines that a portion of each SERP payment is exempt and that SMB has a common law right of setoff that it may exercise in the non-exempt portion of each SERP payment.

I. Jurisdiction

The court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334(b) and 157(a) and (b) (2012). This matter is statutorily and constitutionally core under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B). The court, therefore, has the authority to hear this matter and make a final determination. No party has contested jurisdiction or the court's authority to make final determinations.

II. Burden of Proof

As the party objecting to the exemption, SMB bears the burden of proving the Shieldses did not properly claim the SERP payments as exempt under (10)(e). Fed. R. Bankr. P. 4003(c). SMB also bears the burden of proving it has a valid and enforceable right of setoff against the SERP payments. Pester Ref. Co. v. Mapco Gas Prods., Inc. (In re Pester Ref. Co.) , 845 F.2d 1476, 1486 (8th Cir. 1988).

III. Factual Background

The relevant facts are undisputed. Wallace worked for SMB when the two entered into the SERP in December 2008. Pursuant to the SERP, Wallace deferred until retirement some of the compensation he earned while working for SMB. The SERP required Wallace to work for SMB for a specified number of years and reach one of several specified retirement ages to receive deferred compensation payments. Wallace retired from SMB prior to filing bankruptcy, and SMB began making the SERP payments to Wallace. According to the Shieldses' Schedule I and Wallace's testimony, Wallace receives $2,285.06 each *319month under the SERP. SMB is obligated to make the SERP payments to Wallace until August 2027. In their amended Schedule C, the Shieldses claim that the SERP payments are entirely exempt under (10)(e).

SMB made three loans to Wallace and Deborah before they filed bankruptcy. One loan is secured by the Shieldses' home and is not at issue in this matter. SMB filed a proof of secured claim for each of the other two loans and a motion for relief from stay seeking permission to exercise its right of setoff against the SERP payments it owes Wallace. The Shieldses objected to those claims arguing the SERP payments are exempt under (10)(e). SMB objected to the Shieldses' claimed exemption arguing that the SERP payments are not exempt under (10)(e). In its trial brief, SMB contends that it has the right to offset the SERP payments it owes Wallace against the two loans that are not secured by the home until those two loans are satisfied. The aggregate amount SMB owes Wallace in SERP payments exceeds the amount Wallace and Deborah owe SMB on those two loans.

The parties submitted briefs and exhibits on whether the SERP payments are exempt under (10)(e) and whether SMB has a valid and enforceable right of setoff. On October 26, 2017, the court heard the parties' oral arguments, and Wallace testified. After taking this matter under advisement, the court is ready to rule.

IV. A Portion of Each SERP Payment is Exempt Under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 513.430.1(10)(e)

Qualified deferred compensation plans are exempt under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 513.430.1(10)(f) (2016).1 But the SERP is a nonqualified deferred compensation plan under Internal Revenue Code § 409A, 26 U.S.C. § 409A (2012), and, consequently, is not specifically exempt under § 513.430(10)(f). So, the court must analyze the SERP under (10)(e)2 to determine whether any portion of it is exempt.

*320In analyzing whether the SERP payments are exempt under (10)(e), the court will look to cases interpreting (10)(e)'s federal exemption counterpart found in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(10)(E) because no court has addressed whether a SERP or 409A plan is exempt under (10)(e). The court is aware that two other bankruptcy courts have addressed whether a SERP or other 409A plan is exempt in Illinois and Virginia. See In re Jokiel , 453 B.R. 743 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2011) (concluding that SERP did not qualify for exemption under Illinois law); In re Gnadt , 2015 WL 2194475 (Bankr. E.D. Va. May 7, 2015) (concluding that 409A plan did not qualify for exemption under Virginia law). The requirements under the Illinois and Virginia exemption statutes, however, differ from (10)(e)'s requirements; so, those cases are not helpful here. Although there are no cases applying (10)(e) to a SERP and there is a dearth of case law guidance on SERP exemptions in general, the court finds guidance from cases interpreting § 522(d)(10)(E) because "[t]he Missouri exemption provision [found in (10)(e) ] is virtually identical to that found in [ § 522(d)(10)(E) ]." Checkett v. Vickers (In re Vickers) , 954 F.2d 1426, 1429 (8th Cir. 1992). The court will now determine whether the SERP payments are exempt under (10)(e).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
586 B.R. 315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-shields-mowb-2018.