In re Dulgarian

On August 5, 1959, Dulgarian filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy and was adjudicated a bankrupt. Thereafter the trustee filed a report and an amended report of exempt property. Although a declaration of homestead has been made and duly filed which, ordinarily, makes such property exempt under California Civil Code, § 1237 et seq., the trustee refused to consider as exempt the resident real property of the bankrupt. The trustee’s refusal to treat the property as exempt is based on the contention that the declaration of homestead, as filed by the bankrupt, was defective.

The bankrupt objected to the trustee’s report refusing to set aside the resident *955 property as exempt. The Referee overruled the bankrupt’s objections and this petition for review followed.

Section 1263 of the California Civil Code treats of the required contents of a declaration of homestead, and subsection 4 thereof requires “An estimate of their actual cash value.” (i. e. of the premises). The bankrupt herein used a standard form upon which, after the printed line “That the actual cash value of said property I estimate to be $.... ”, he wrote “3000 Equity”. The trustee takes the position that “$3000…