Bankr. L. Rep. P 75,205 in Re Barry G. Tucker Patricia A. Tucker, Debtors. 550 West Ina Road Trust v. Barry G. Tucker Patricia A. Tucker
Opinion
Opinion
Beezer, J.
The 550 West Ina Road Trust appeals the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel’s (BAP) judgment affirming the bankruptcy court’s confirmation of Barry and Patricia Tucker’s Chapter 13 plan. The Trust primarily argues the plan should not have been confirmed because the Tuckers, shortly before filing for bankruptcy, concealed funds and prevented a deputy sheriff from seizing those funds in partial satisfaction of a judgment. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158 (d), and we reverse and remand.
I
The Trust obtained a judgment for about $50,000 against the Tuckers and executed on the judgment when Mr. Miniat, an attorney for the Trust, believed the Tuckers had approximately $7,000 in cash. Mr. Tucker testified as follows on the circumstances surrounding the $7,000 and the inquiries by the executing deputy sheriff:
Mr. Tucker insists he did not intend to deceive the deputy sheriff, and he “meant to convey that [he] did not have $7,000 to hand over to her on the spot to settle the judgment.”
Within a few weeks, the Tuckers paid $6,500 on a loan that was fully secured by their residence and filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition. The loan payment increased the Tuckers’ exempt equity…