Opinion ID: 2819186
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: Debtor William Aubiel filed a voluntary chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on September 13, 2013. Debtor listed 4637 North 3rd Street Ex. SE, Dennison, Ohio 44621 as the mailing address on the petition. The petition listed Debtor’s residence as 2035 First Street, Pier A, Dock 9, Sandusky, Ohio. This location is the dock slip where Debtor kept his 46-foot Sea Ray boat. Debtor listed the boat on Schedule B as “residential boat 46 foot 1988 SeaRay Boat.” On schedule C, Debtor claimed the boat exempt pursuant to Ohio’s homestead exemption. 2 Prior to December 2014, Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 8013 reiterated the language of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a)(6) governing appeals. In December 2014, Part VIII of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (addressing appeals in bankruptcy cases) was extensively amended and renumbered. The language of Bankruptcy Rule 8013 was omitted. However, the Panel holds that the standard of review, which is well established by case law, has not changed. -4- In July 2012, Debtor’s 38-year marriage ended through an Agreed Judgment Entry of Dissolution. As part of the dissolution, Debtor transferred certain pieces of real property to his exwife, including their former marital home.3 Debtor asserts that after the dissolution of his marriage, he moved into his boat and began using it as his full-time residence.4 The mailing address on the petition is Debtor’s former marital home, now belonging to and occupied by his ex-wife. Debtor asserts that the marriage ended on good terms and that he and his ex-wife are still friendly. (Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 54:5-10, July 21, 2014, ECF No. 101.) During 2012, Valley Mining, Inc. (“Valley Mining”), which had been founded by Debtor and his ex-wife’s family, was also experiencing financial difficulty. On January 23, 2013, Debtor wrote a check to Valley Mining in the amount of $250,000 to try to keep it afloat. This is significant only because the Trustee argues that it is highly unlikely that Debtor invested such a large sum of personal money into a failing company, but lived on a boat 100 miles away from the company’s offices. Valley Mining eventually filed bankruptcy as well.5 The Trustee timely filed an objection to Debtor’s claim of a homestead exemption in the boat and sought turnover of the boat from Debtor. The bankruptcy court held an evidentiary hearing on 3 These property transfers were not disclosed on Debtor’s statement of financial affairs even though he had owned them within the two years prior to filing bankruptcy. 4 In the evidentiary hearing, however, Debtor testified that he had been living on the boat for three to four years. (Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 10:1, July 21, 2014, ECF No. 101.) 5 In re Valley Mining, Inc., Case No. 13-62471 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio Oct. 8, 2013), chapter 7 filed in Canton, Ohio. -5- July 21, 2014. On August 28, 2014, the bankruptcy court issued its Memorandum of Decision and Order Regarding Objection to Claim of Homestead Exemption in 46' Sea Ray Boat. In re Aubiel, 516 B.R. 476 (Bankr. N.D. Ohio 2014). The bankruptcy court held that “the Chapter 7 Trustee has met his burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the Sea Ray boat was not Debtor’s residence at the time of filing, and that the Ohio homestead exemption cannot be claimed on that vessel.” Id. at 484. Accordingly, the bankruptcy court sustained the Trustee’s objection to the exemption and ordered turnover of the boat. Debtor timely filed this appeal.