Haag v. Northwestern Bank (In re Haag)

Summarized by Thomas Phinney , Felderstein Fitzgerald Willoughby Pascuzzi & Rios LLP
11 years 6 months ago

Citation:

9th Cir. (No. 12-60074), August 20, 2014 (unpublished)

Tag(s):

Ruling:

Bankruptcy court did not err when it denied Debtors' discharge under Section 727(a)(2) where Debtors stated they had moved $120,000 into a safe deposit box "to avoid the prying eyes and aggressive behavior" of a creditor, and spent some of the money on improvements to their condominium in Mexico.

Procedural context:

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the ruling of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, which affirmed the judgment of the bankruptcy court denying the Debtors' discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Section 727(a)(2).

Facts:

Within one year prior to the bankruptcy petition, the Debtors moved $120,000 into a safe deposit box "to avoid the prying eyes aggressive behavior" of a creditor, and also spent some of the money on improvements to their condominium in Mexico. The 9th Circuit rejected the Debtors' arguments on appeal that (1) the Debtor's intentions in transferring the money were good because he hoped to protect the funds for less aggressive creditors, and (2) applying Section 727(a)(2) was unfair because the creditors were not, at the time of the transfer, formally seeking out his assets and that, if they had looked, they could easily have discovered the safety deposit box.

Judge(s):

HAWKINS, THOMAS, and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges

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