Lindley v. Lindley (In Re Lindley)

121 B.R. 81, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 2246, 1990 WL 165173
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 23, 1990
Docket19-10379
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 121 B.R. 81 (Lindley v. Lindley (In Re Lindley)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lindley v. Lindley (In Re Lindley), 121 B.R. 81, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 2246, 1990 WL 165173 (Okla. 1990).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

STEPHEN J. COVEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter comes on to be heard upon the Second Amended Complaint of Carol Ann Lindley, a Creditor and ex-wife of the Debtor and Fred W. Woodson, Trustee, asking that certain transfers of the Debtor be found to be fraudulent, that the debt of Carol Ann Lindley be held to be nondis-chargeable and that the Debtor be denied a discharge of his debts. The Defendants have denied the allegations of the Complaint. This Court has heard eight days of testimony and has admitted and examined over 150 exhibits. Both Plaintiffs and Defendants have submitted extensive briefs on the factual and legal issues presented and the Court now makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

In order to understand the events that took place, the main participants and parties and their relationships to each other must be identified.

Larry Joe Lindley (“Debtor”),
Carol Ann Lindley (Ex-wife and Creditor of Debtor) (“Carol”),
Fred W. Woodson (“Trustee”),
Jack Randall Lindley (Brother of Debtor) (“Randy”),
Deborah Ann Lindley (Spouse of Randy) (“Deborah”),
Sharia Lindley (Present spouse of Debt- or) (“Sharia”),
Jack Lindley (Father of Debtor and Randy) (“Jack”),
Mary Ruth Lindley (Mother of Debtor and Randy and wife of Jack) (“Mary Ruth”).

The Debtor and Carol were married on March 21, 1970, and divorced on January 9, 1986, in Pottawatomie County, State of Oklahoma. At the time of the divorce, the Debtor had both .substantial assets and liabilities. Included among his assets was stock in three different corporations which owned and operated three Holiday Inns in the State of Oklahoma as follows:

Shaw-Meek, Inc. Holiday Inn of Shawnee 36 shares or 15 percent
Lin-Feld, Inc. Holiday Inn of Muskogee 50 shares or 10 percent
Okla-Inn, Inc. Holiday Inn of Henryetta 300 shares or 15 percent

In 1986 the other owners of the stock in the three corporations were as follows: Shaw-Meek — Jack, 40 percent and non-family owners Milfeld and Burns 45 percent; Lin-Feld — Randy, 15 percent; Mary Ruth, 25 percent and Milfeld, 50 percent. Okla-Inn — Randy, 10 percent, Mary Ruth, 25 percent, Milfeld, 50 percent.

In the Divorce Decree Carol was granted a one-half equitable interest in the Debtor’s stock ownership in the three corporations *84 with the Debtor continuing to hold the legal title in the stock. The Decree granted Carol a lien against the stock and provided that when the stock was sold the proceeds were to be divided or applied on their joint debts. Also in the Decree Debtor was ordered to pay child support of $600.00 per month and alimony of $3,000.00 per month (this ceased when Carol remarried in February of 1987). Debtor also agreed to pay all debts of the marriage including a mortgage in excess of $400,000.00 on their home. On the sale of the house, Carol was to get one-half of the equity and the Debt- or was either to buy her a $300,000.00 house or pay her $3,000.00 a month for 25 years as a property settlement. All of the participants and parties listed above were aware of the provisions of this Decree (except the Trustee).

After the divorce, the Debtor transferred all of his stock in the three Holiday Inns to either Jack or Randy. One of the crucial, factual determinations that has to be made in this case is when the transfers occurred. This issue of fact was hotly contested and much of the testimony and many of the documents, were directed towards it. This Court, without discussing all the various theories and contentions, finds that the transfers occurred as follows.

January 1, 1987, Debtor to Jack, 36 shares or 15 percent of Shaw-Meek. This finding is supported by the amended corporate tax returns. Debtor's personal 1987 tax returns and the endorsements on the stock certificates themselves.

January 1, 1987, Debtor to Jack, 50 shares or 10 percent of Lin-Feld. This is confirmed by the corporate tax returns, the Debtor’s personal tax returns and the stock record book.

April 22, 1987, Debtor to Randy, 200 shares or 10 percent of Okla-Inn. This is confirmed by the endorsement on the stock certificate and the corporate record book.

May 2, 1988, Debtor to Randy, 100 shares or 5 percent of Okla-Inn. This was confirmed by the oral testimony of the witnesses and was not contested.

In addition to the transfers made by the Debtor to Jack and Randy, on May 2, 1988, Jack transferred all of the stock he owned in Lin-Feld, including the 10 percent received from the Debtor, to Randy and Deborah.

After the May 2, 1988 transfers, Randy and Deborah owned the Debtor’s 10 percent interest in Lin-Feld and Randy alone owned the Debtor’s 15 percent interest in Okla-Inn. The Lin-Feld stock had gone from Debtor to Jack and from Jack to Randy and Deborah and the Okla-Inn stock had gone directly from Debtor to Randy. The Debtor’s 15 percent interest in Shaw-Meek was transferred to Jack and remained with Jack.

At the time of all the transfers, the Court finds that the value of the Debtor’s stock was as follows:

Shaw-Meek — Y alueless
Lin-Feld — $118,800.00
Okla-Inn — $ 88,200.00

The stock in Shaw-Meek was found to be valueless because the motel had historically lost money, other stockholders were not interested in buying out Debtor’s interest, and a sale of the hotel in May of 1989 to a third party was based merely on an assumption of the mortgage with no money being paid to the shareholders.

The value of Lin-Feld was arrived at from considering the hotel’s net operating income and a sale by Randy of his 50 percent interest in February 1990 to co-stockholder, Milfeld.

The value of Okla-Inn was determined by considering the net operating income plus a sale of the property to a third party, Wadco, on June 30, 1987.

Jack, as to the Lin-Feld and Shaw-Meek stock, is the initial transferee. Randy, as to the 15 percent transferred in Okla-Inn, is an initial transferee. Randy and Deborah as transferees of the Lin-Feld stock from Jack, are designated as immediate transferees.

None of the transferees paid any consideration for the transfers. The Lindleys offered much testimony attempting to prove that a valuable consideration had been paid. For example, Randy contends *85 he paid $25,000.00 in 1985 to the Debtor for the transfer of the 200 shares or 10 percent of Okla-Inn. This Court rejected this testimony because even though Randy did pay the Debtor $25,000.00 in 1985, there is no evidence other than the testimony of Randy that this was in payment of the stock. As found above, the stock itself was transferred on January 1, 1987, and this Court does not believe that a payment of $25,000.00, some 15 months earlier, was in exchange for this stock.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 B.R. 81, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 2246, 1990 WL 165173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lindley-v-lindley-in-re-lindley-oknb-1990.