310.376.9865
Unexempt Assets: Upon filing your bankruptcy petition you are required to list all of your property, both real and personal property. In California you are allowed fairly generous exemptions and generally you are allowed to keep everything you own by claiming the proper exemption.
1. Debtor Number One, was a insurance agent. As an insurance agent you are compensated every year your client renews after the initial sale. The debtor had produced evidenced that he is entitled to approximately $40,000.00 of residuals, he would be able to exempt approximately $20,000.00, leaving approximately $20,000.00 that he would have to turn over to the trustee. The trustee would then use the $20,000.00 to pay back the debtor’s creditors on a pro rata basis.
2. Debtor Number Two. After being sworn in, but before the examination, debtor’s counsel informed the trustee that a car was inadvertently omitted from the schedule of assets. The attorney described the car as a 1994 Toyota Corolla with 224,179 miles on it, with an approximate Blue Book value of $1,150.00, and the car was non-exempt. (The debtor had used all of his available exemptions, and if the trustee so desired, the trustee could demand the car be turned over.)
The trustee informed the debtor’s attorney, this car was a “Dead Asset” and the trustee would decline to pursue a turnover of this asset for the benefit of bankruptcy estate.
Conclusion: The trustee had the right to have both of the above items of personal property turned over to him so he could administer the assets for the estate. However, it may depend on the value of the asset, and would it be worth the trustee seek turnover. Here, it was to the bankruptcy estate’s best interest that the $20,000.00 be turned over to the trustee, while there would be no such benefit for the “Dead Asset” to be turned over to the trustee.
A Debt Relief Agency
- Law Offices MJ Mann Bankruptcy Attorney
- 2706 Artesia Blvd, Suite BK
- Redondo Beach, CA 90278
- 310.376.9865
