Walsh v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Employment Retirement Board (In re Tykla)

353 B.R. 437, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 2887
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 30, 2006
DocketBankruptcy Nos. 02-29030 BM, 02-31064 BM; Adversary Nos. 04-2430-BM, 05-2947BM
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 353 B.R. 437 (Walsh v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Employment Retirement Board (In re Tykla)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walsh v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Employment Retirement Board (In re Tykla), 353 B.R. 437, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 2887 (Pa. 2006).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BERNARD MARKOVITZ, Bankruptcy Judge.

The chapter 7 trustee in these adversary actions seeks to compel an instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to turn over the accounts of debtor Bonnie Tykla and debtor Robert Hampton in a deferred compensation plan (“DCP”) that the Commonwealth has established for its officers and employees. The chapter 7 trustee asserts that debtors’ DCP accounts [441]*441are included in their respective bankruptcy estates by virtue of § 541(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. According the trustee, statutory restrictions imposed by Pennsylvania law on the transfer of debtors’ interests in their DCP accounts are not enforceable under applicable non-bankruptcy law within the meaning of § 541(c)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.

The Commonwealth insists that the statutory restrictions imposed on the transfer of debtors’ interests in their DCP accounts are enforceable under Pennsylvania law and that their interests therein are excluded from their respective bankruptcy estates by virtue of § 541(c)(2).

We conclude that because the statutory restrictions imposed on the transfer of debtors’ interests in their DCP accounts are enforceable under Pennsylvania law, debtors’ interests in their DCP accounts are excluded from their respective bankruptcy estates in accordance with § 541(c)(2). Judgments will issue in both adversary actions in favor of the Commonwealth and against the chapter 7 trustee.

-FACTS-

Debtor Bonnie Tykla (Adversary No. 04-2430).

Debtor Bonnie Tykla has been employed as a nurse by Pennsylvania Department of Corrections since 1982 or 1983.

She filed a voluntary chapter 7 petition on August 21, 2002. A chapter 7 trustee thereafter was appointed.

The schedules accompanying the petition listed assets with a total declared value of $54,047.08 and liabilities totaling $89,223.50. Included among the assets listed was an interest in an account debtor had in a DCP established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for its officers and employees.

Debtor listed the account as having a value of $1.00 and claimed that it was excluded from her bankruptcy estate by virtue of § 541(c)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.

Debtor received a discharge on November 25, 2002. The bankruptcy case has to date not been closed.

The chapter 7 trustee subsequently commenced an adversary action against the Commonwealth, seeking to compel it to turn over to him debtor’s interest in the DCP account for distribution to her creditors. The chapter 7 trustee asserted in the complaint that debtor’s interest in the DCP was property of her bankruptcy estate and that the Commonwealth therefore was obligated to turn the funds in the account over to him. Debtor was not named as a defendant in the complaint and to date has not formally objected to the trustee’s prayer for relief as a necessary party in interest.

The Commonwealth and the chapter 7 trustee agree that this case can be decided on a case-stated basis and have stipulated as to the salient facts and submitted briefs in support of their respective positions. The matter is now ready for resolution.

Debtor Robert Hampton (Adversary No. 05-2947).

Robert Hampton also is employed by Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The record does not indicate what his position is or how long he has been employed by Department of Corrections.

On October 9, 2002, Robert Hampton and his wife, Donna Hampton, filed a voluntary joint chapter 7 petition. The same chapter 7 trustee was appointed in this case as was appointed in the other bankruptcy case.

The schedules accompanying the petition identified assets with a total declared value of $80,890.00 and liabilities totaling [442]*442$63,623.26. Included among the assets listed was an interest in an account debtor Robert Hampton had in a DCP the Commonwealth had ■ established for its officers and employees. Debtors asserted that Robert Hampton’s interest in the account had an “Unknown” value and claimed an exemption therein in an “Unknown” amount pursuant to § 522(d)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code.1

Shortly after debtors Robert and Donna Hampton received discharges on March 9, 2004, the chapter 7 trustee commenced an adversary action (Adversary No. 05-2947) against State Employees Retirement Board (“SERB”), an “instrumentality” of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, seeking to compel it to turn over to him the interest debtor Robert Hampton in his DCP account for distribution to his creditors. The chapter 7 trustee asserted that the interest of debtor Robert Hampton in his DCP account was property of his bankruptcy estate and that SERB was required to turn over the funds in the account over to him. Debtor Robert Hampton was not named in the complaint as a defendant and has filed no objection thereto.

The chapter 7 trustee and SERB agree that this adversary action also can be decided on a case-stated basis and have stipulated as to the salient facts and submitted briefs in support of their respective positions. The case is now ready for decision.

-ANALYSIS-

As compensation for their employment, debtors Tykla and Hampton also enjoy a generous salary and fringe benefits, including a partially funded employee pension plan. The trustee makes no claim to either of the above benefits of employment. Only the DCP is at issue here.

The question to be decided in both adversary actions is whether the interests of debtor Bonnie Tykla and debtor Robert Hampton in their respective DCP accounts lie within the scope of § 541(c)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code and thus are excluded from their bankruptcy estates.

Section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code provides in pertinent part as follows:

(a) The commencement of a case under ... this title creates an estate. Such an estate is comprised of the following property, wherever located and by whomever held:
(1) Except as provided in subsection ... (c)(2) of this section, all legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the case....
(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, an interest of the debtor in property becomes property of the estate under subsection (a)(1) ... of this section notwithstanding any provision in an agreement ... or applicable nonbankruptcy law—
(A) that restricts ... transfer of such interest by the debtor.... (2) A restriction on the transfer of a beneficial interest of the debtor in a trust that is enforceable under applicable nonbankruptcy law is enforceable in a case under this title.

11 U.S.C. § 541.

It is not disputed that debtors Bonnie Tykla and Robert Hampton had at least equitable interests in their respective DCP accounts for purposes of § 541(a)(1) when they filed their bankruptcy petitions.

To paraphrase § 541(c), such equitable interests become property of a debtor’s [443]*443bankruptcy estate despite any provisions contained in an agreement or in an applicable non-bankruptcy law that restricted the transfer of that interest by the debtor. 11 U.S.C.

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Related

In Re City of Harrisburg, Pa
465 B.R. 744 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
353 B.R. 437, 2006 Bankr. LEXIS 2887, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walsh-v-commonwealth-of-pennsylvania-state-employment-retirement-board-pawb-2006.