Court Opinion

ID: 9447021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 22:23:29.823132+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:52.302853
License: Public Domain

BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The property was conveyed and the homestead abandoned prior to bankruptcy. The bankrupt did not claim an exemption for the property. A decision upholding the transfer runs contrary to the rules, recognized by the majority, that the status and rights of the bankrupt, the creditors and the trustee are determined as of the date of the filing of the petition in bankruptcy and that an exemption must be claimed by the bankrupt. Failure to follow these rules favors an agressive creditor and deprives a bankrupt of the means of rehabilitation which the exemption laws are intended to afford. The fact that the debt- or could make the transfer after bankruptcy is, to me, no answer. Before bankruptcy an honest man strives to prevent the impending disaster. After bankruptcy he attempts to save what he can from the wreck. These simple considerations justify the policy of fixing rights as of date of bankruptcy and of giving to the bankrupt, not to a transferee, the right to claim an exemption. I would reverse the judgment.