Matter of Armstrong

93 B.R. 197, 1988 WL 128023
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedDecember 2, 1988
Docket16-40327
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 93 B.R. 197 (Matter of Armstrong) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matter of Armstrong, 93 B.R. 197, 1988 WL 128023 (Neb. 1988).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

TIMOTHY J. MAHONEY, Chief Judge.

Trial was held on July 6, 1988, on creditor and trustee objections to exemptions claimed by the debtors. The parties provided post-trial argument and briefs which the Court has now considered. This memorandum constitutes the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law required by Bankr.R. 7052.

Facts

The debtors filed a Chapter 11 petition on December 31, 1986, and voluntarily converted that proceeding to a case under Chapter 7 on May 1, 1987. On their bankruptcy schedules, the debtors claim cash value and various annuity policies in the total sum of $377,918 to be exempt property pursuant to Neb.Rev.Stat. § 44-371 (Reissue 1984). That statute, as of the date of the filing of the bankruptcy petition, generally exempted from the claim of creditors, including a trustee in bankruptcy, all proceeds, cash values and benefits under annuity contracts and life insurance policies. The statute has now been amended, effective August 30, 1987, to establish a cap of $10,000 for exemption purposes on the aggregate cash values of annuity contracts and life insurance policies owned by a debtor.

*198 Of the total amount claimed exempt, $377,918, there is at issue only the legitimacy of an exemption for annuities with an approximate value of $303,000 which were purchased with the proceeds from the sale of debtors’ assets and other debtor funds.

A debtor in the District of Nebraska filing a bankruptcy petition may exempt property authorized under the Nebraska statutes rather than the exemptions authorized by the Bankruptcy Code at 11 U.S.C. § 522 because the Nebraska Legislature in 1980 opted out of the bankruptcy exemption scheme. See Neb.Rev.Stat. § 25-15,105 (Reissue 1985).

The debtors were farmers who by late summer of 1986 were having significant financial difficulty. The Bank of Heming-ford was the main operating lender for the debtors. In the summer and fall of 1986, the debtors and the Bank of Hemingford entered into discussions with regard to the financial obligations of the debtors.

Debtors are residents of Alliance, Box Butte County, Nebraska. They operate a grain farm in Box Butte County and David is a shareholder officer and director of Maverick Land and Cattle Co. (Maverick), a corporation that owns land and cattle in Brown County, Nebraska. The corporation has existed for many years and the sole shareholders, officers and directors have always been David and his father Ted. David has been in charge of operations.

Maverick has always needed funds from outside sources to finance operations. Generally, Ted has financed the operation either directly or through bank loans. In the early 1980’s, Ted, formerly a resident of Nebraska but now a resident of Florida, borrowed money from a Florida bank and secured the loan with his personally owned shares of stock in listed corporations. The funds were placed directly into Maverick and Maverick paid the interest and principal directly. In addition, Ted also loaned Maverick funds from his own resources. Maverick paid the interest and principal directly to Ted.

Beginning in 1985, Maverick had a banking relationship with Omaha State Bank. It had a line of credit in the maximum amount of $200,000 until the fall of 1986. In early October, 1986, Ted arranged for Omaha State Bank to increase the line of credit to $600,000, secured by his own stock holdings in listed corporations other than Maverick. Maverick, as part of the early October 1986 transaction, drew down on the loan, paid off all debts it owed Ted and paid off all debts it or Ted owed to the Florida bank. Ted then used some of the money he received from Maverick to purchase 1800 shares of Maverick stock from David for $79,000. This occurred on October 7, 1986. Such purchase reduced David’s property ownership interest from 6,250 shares versus Ted’s 3,750 shares to 4,950 shares versus Ted’s new majority interest of 5,050 shares.

Ted explains the transaction in terms of giving control of the business to the shareholder who really had the most at risk. Although he had always financed the business, he decided in October, 1986, that he would not only have most of the financing risk but would have the majority control. David used the $79,000 for the purchase of one of the annuity policies now claimed as exempt and at issue here.

As part of the Maverick loan restructuring with the Omaha State Bank, David pledged his Maverick stock, his personal vehicles and several life insurance policies as collateral. An officer of the Omaha State Bank testified that none of David’s collateral was requested, because Ted’s collateral was sufficient to support the loan. However, David and Ted told the banker that Ted thought it was important that David have some of his assets at risk for the Maverick loan.

On October 15, 1986, David and Hannah agreed to sell their home in Alliance to Ted for $157,400 and a deed was executed and recorded on October 24, 1986, representing such conveyance. The value was determined by an independent appraiser hired by David. Ted had known of the debtors’ financial problems as early as mid-summer 1986.

David and Hannah used the proceeds of the sale of their home and other funds to purchase the other annuity policy at issue *199 here. They then remained in the home rent free for several months, although at the time of trial David claimed he was paying $650 per month rent.

Just before the sale of the Maverick stock, the sale of the house and the purchase of annuities, negotiations broke down between debtors and the Bank of Heming-ford concerning their personal debt to it. Their debt to the Bank of Hemingford exceeded $800,000 and was partially secured by a second mortgage on farm ground in Box Butte County and certain equipment. On October 6, 1986, the Bank of Heming-ford notified debtors’ lawyer that a lawsuit in replevin had been filed by the Bank against David and Hannah. Debtors were served with process in the state court suit on October 14, 1986.

Debtors’ lawyer is in the same firm as Ted’s lawyer. Ted’s lawyer was, at all times pertinent here, an officer, director, and shareholder of the Omaha State Bank and was the person who brought Ted’s business to the Omaha State Bank.

To summarize, within a few days after negotiations broke down between debtors and The Bank of Hemingford, a lawsuit was filed, David valued and sold a majority interest in his Maverick stock to his father and voluntarily encumbered all of his other personal assets; David and Hannah sold their home to Ted, although they continued to reside in it without rent payments; debtors took all funds received from the transactions with Ted and purchased the annuity contracts now claimed as exempt from creditors and at issue here.

On December 31, 1986, debtors filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Code, which was voluntarily converted to Chapter 7 on May 1, 1987. Objections to the annuities claimed as exempt were timely filed by the Bank of Hemingford and the Trustee.

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Bluebook (online)
93 B.R. 197, 1988 WL 128023, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-armstrong-nebraskab-1988.