1

SLATKIN & REYNOLDS, P.A. 

One East Broward Boulevard, Suite 609, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 ● Telephone 954.745.5880 

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA 

FORT LAUDERDALE DIVISION 

www.flsb.uscourts.gov 

In re: 

LOUIS TINO FISHER, 

 Debtor. 

CASE NO. 19-19710-RBR 

Chapter 7 

CREDITOR THEODORE ROBERTS’ OBJECTION TO DEBTOR’S CLAIMED HOMESTEAD 

EXEMPTION 

Creditor, Theodore Roberts (“Roberts”), by and through undersigned counsel, and 

pursuant to Rule 4003(b), Fed.R.Bankr.P. (2019), files Creditor Theodore Roberts’s Objection to 

Debtor’s Claimed Homestead Exemption and, as grounds therefore, Roberts states as follows: 

1. On December 18, 2018, Louis Tino Fisher (“Debtor”) and Loretta B. Leonard 

(“Leonard”) as sellers, and Roberts as buyer, entered into that certain “AS IS” Residential 

Contract for Sale and Purchase (the “Contract”) in which Debtor and Leonard agreed to sell 

Roberts the real property located at 5440 NW 12th Court, Lauderhill Florida, more particularly 

described as: 

Lot 10, Block 8 of Falcon Subdivision Number One, according to the Plat thereof, 

recorded in Plat Book 54, Page 47 of the Public Records of Broward County, 

Florida. 

(the “Property”). 

2. The Contract called for a closing on or before January 18, 2019. 

3. Debtor and Leonard refused to close by the closing deadline and continued to 

refuse to close anytime thereafter. 

4. As a result, Roberts filed an action for specific performance against Debtor and 

Leonard on March 20, 2019, in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County, Florida. 

Case No. CACE 19-006197 (09) (the “State Court Action”). 

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SLATKIN & REYNOLDS, P.A. 

One East Broward Boulevard, Suite 609, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 ● Telephone 954.745.5880 

5. Roberts moved for final summary judgment in the State Court Action and was 

granted the same by way of the Final Judgment attached hereto as Exhibit “A.” 

6. The Final Judgment required Debtor and Leonard to close the transaction no 

later than August 1, 2019. Ex. A, ¶ 6, at 3. 

7. Instead, Debtor filed for bankruptcy on July 22, 2019. [ECF 1]. 

8. In his schedules, namely Schedule C, Debtor claims the Property as his exempt 

homestead. 

9. But Debtor does not have any equitable interest in the Property to exempt. 

10. All equitable interests in the Property passed to Roberts upon the parties 

entering into the contract to sell the Property. “Under a land contract sale arrangement, the 

buyer immediately receives and holds the equitable title and the seller holds the bare legal title 

only as security for the unpaid purchase price. White v. Brousseau, 566 So. 2d 832 (Fla. 5th

DCA 1990).” Bowman v. Saltsman, 736 So. 2d 144, 145 n.1 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999). The divestiture 

of Debtor’s (and Leonard’s) equitable interest in the Property was further compounded by entry 

of the Final Judgment of specific performance in which Debtor and Leonard were ordered to 

convey legal title to Roberts no later than August 1, 2019.

11. As Debtor has no equitable interest in the Property, there is nothing for Debtor to 

exempt.

12. Accordingly, Roberts objects to Debtor’s claimed homestead exemption in the 

Property.

WHEREFORE, Roberts, by and through undersigned counsel, requests this Honorable 

Court to sustain Roberts’ objection to Debtor’s claimed homestead exemption and grant Roberts 

any further relief this Honorable Court deems just and proper.

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SLATKIN & REYNOLDS, P.A. 

One East Broward Boulevard, Suite 609, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 ● Telephone 954.745.5880 

Dated this 26TH day of September, 2019. SLATKIN & REYNOLDS, P.A. 

 Attorneys for Theodore Roberts 

 One East Broward Boulevard, Suite 700 

 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 

 Telephone 954.745.5880 

 Facsimile 954.745.5890 

 jslatkin@slatkinreynolds.com 

 By: /s/ Jason E. Slatkin___________ 

 Jason E. Slatkin, Esq. 

 Fla. Bar No: 040370 

Certificate of Service 

 I hereby certify that a true copy of the foregoing has been furnished via CM/ECF to 

Christian J. Olson, Esq., attorney for Debtor, ecf@nowackolson.com, and U. S. Mail, first class, 

postage prepaid, to Louis Tino Fisher, 5440 NW 12th Court, Lauderhill, FL 33313 and American 

Express, Po Box 297871, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33329 26th day of September, 2019. 

 /s/ Jason E. Slatkin___ 

 Jason E. Slatkin, Esq. 

 

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SLATKIN & REYNOLDS, P.A. 

One East Broward Boulevard, Suite 609, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 ● Telephone 954.745.5880 

EXHIBIT 

“A” 

 

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