In re Mapes

This matter is before the Court on certificate of review of a Referee’s order adjudging bankrupt’s declaration of homestead to be invalid and overruling the exceptions of bankrupt to the trustee’s report of exempt property. In that report the trustee had refused to recognize what the bankrupt claimed to be a valid homestead and refused to list the property as exempt.

The Bankruptcy Act, Title 11 U.S.C. A. § 24, provides in substance that bankrupts shall be privileged to retain use and title to such assets as are exempt from execution by law of the State wherein the bankrupt was domiciled.

It is the duty of a trustee of a bankrupt’s estate to report all such property to the Referee and upon confirmation of the trustee’s report, the exempt property is assigned to the bankrupt. Title 11 U.S.C.A. §§ 11 , sub. a(ll), 66, 75, sub. a(6).

Prior to bankruptcy, the bankrupt’s husband filed and recorded a declaration of homestead which stated that he claimed the property as the head of a family and that the family consisted of his wife and two children. The name of the wife was not stated.

Section 1263 of Civil Code of California provides, in part:

The trustee refused to list the…