In Re Shrum

98 B.R. 995, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 537, 1989 WL 35282
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedApril 12, 1989
Docket18-15333
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 98 B.R. 995 (In Re Shrum) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Shrum, 98 B.R. 995, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 537, 1989 WL 35282 (Okla. 1989).

Opinions

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

PAUL B. LINDSEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

On January 25, 1989, debtor filed her motion for order determining the value of a secured claim and for order voiding lien. Debtor asserted that her home had a market value of $80,000, that it was subject to a first mortgage to Investor Residential Mortgage Company, securing a loan having a principal balance in excess of $30,000, and that it was also subject to a second mortgage in favor of Tinker Credit Union (“Tinker”). Debtor sought a determination under 11 U.S.C. § 506(a) valuing the allowed secured claim of Tinker at zero and that Tinker’s claim be allowed as an unsecured claim only. Debtor also sought a determination under 11 U.S.C. § 506(d) that Tinker’s lien was void.

On February 10, 1989, Tinker filed its objection to debtor’s motion and its brief in support thereof.

On February 21, 1989, Tinker filed its motion seeking a hearing en banc before the three bankruptcy judges of this court, on the motion and response. On March 7, 1989, an order was entered setting an en banc hearing to be held March 13, 1989, asserting the belief that a uniform approach to the issues raised in the motion and objection would be beneficial to the administration of bankruptcy cases.

At the hearing, debtor and Tinker were represented by counsel and the en banc court heard arguments on the legal issues raised by the motion and response. At the conclusion of those arguments, the en banc court took the legal issues under advisement and a further hearing was held before this court, to whom the case had been assigned, on the factual issue of valuation of the property in question.

Debtor filed her petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code on October 17, 1988. Debtor, a single individual, recited that she supported herself and her mother, that her total monthly income, net of all deductions, was approximately $1,971, that her current monthly expenditures totaled $1,930, including home loan payments of $431, installment payments on an auto loan of $346 and charitable contributions of $240. She reported having had income in the amount of $27,376 during 1987.

In the schedules which accompanied her petition, she showed total debts of $75,786, consisting entirely of secured claims, and property of a total value of $75,600, consisting of real property valued at $60,000, cash on hand and deposits in the amount of $6,100, household goods valued at $1,500, wearing apparel and personal possessions valued at $1,000 and an automobile valued at $7,000. The real property consisted of the property in question here, debtor’s personal residence, valued at $40,000 [note, not $30,000 as in her motion three months later] and an additional parcel of real property valued at $20,000.

[997]*997The schedule of secured indebtedness included an $11,786 claim against the parcel of real property other than debtor’s residence, a $12,000 claim against the $7,000 automobile, a 1987 Mercury Cougar, a $33,-000 first mortgage claim against the personal residence, and Tinker’s claim of $19,-000, which was scheduled as a personal loan secured by a $5,700 savings account deposit, and not shown as being secured by the residence as well.

Following the filing of the petition, debt- or filed her statement of intention to surrender the second parcel of real estate to the secured creditor, FDIC, and the $5,700 savings account to Tinker. The statement further noted her intention to retain the 1987 Mercury Cougar and the personal residence, both of which would be reaffirmed pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 524(c).

On December 23, 1988, Tinker filed its motion for relief from the automatic stay and to require the trustee to abandon the estate’s interest in the savings account scheduled by the debtor as securing her indebtedness to Tinker. That motion was not responded to and, in accordance with Local Bankruptcy Rule 12(d), the same was therefore deemed confessed. An order was entered on January 20, 1989, modifying the automatic stay as to the account and directing the trustee to abandon it. Five days later, debtor filed her motion under 11 U.S.C. § 506, which is the subject matter of this opinion and order.

It is debtor’s contention that provisions of 11 U.S.C. § 506(a) may be employed by her to obtain a determination of the fair market value of her principal residence at the date her petition was filed, thus fixing the extent of the allowed secured claim available to the holders of liens against that property. She then contends that the provisions of 11 U.S.C. § 506(d) operate to void the lien of any creditor to the extent the debt exceeds the amount of the allowed secured claim. She contends that her right to effect this result is clear from the plain language of § 506 and that such right is an important part of the “fresh start” promised to debtors by the Bankruptcy Code. Assuming the accuracy of the motion’s statement of the value of the residence and of the claim amounts recited in debtor’s schedules, the second lien of Tinker would be completely extinguished by the operation of the § 506 process.

It should be noted that no objection was filed or stated to the list of property claimed as exempt by the debtor, within the period provided for the filing of such objections in Bankruptcy Rule 4003(b), or thereafter. Thus, in accordance with 11 U.S.C. § 522(Z), the property claimed as exempt by debtor is exempt.

The provisions of 11 U.S.C. § 506, in pertinent part, are as follows:

(a) an allowed claim of a creditor secured by a lien on property in which the estate has an interest ... is a secured claim to the extent of the value of such creditor’s interest in the estate’s interest in such property ... and is an unsecured claim to the extent that the value of such creditor’s interest ... is less than the amount of such allowed claim. Such value shall be determined in light of the purpose of the valuation and of the proposed disposition or use of such property, and in conjunction with any hearing on such disposition or use or on a plan affecting such creditor’s interest.
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(d) to the extent that a lien secures a claim against the debtor that is not an allowed secured claim, such lien is void unless—
(1) such claim was disallowed only under section 502(b)(5) or 502(e) of this title; or
(2) such claim is not an allowed secured claim due only to the failure of any entity to file a proof of such claim under section 501 of this title.

Tinker contends that to permit the avoidance of its lien as sought by debtor would render 11 U.S.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 B.R. 995, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 537, 1989 WL 35282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-shrum-okwb-1989.