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In re Koryn Michele Steen

Bankr. No.: 
10-10206
Chapter: 
7
Date of Decision: 
April 13, 2012
Issue: 
Whether alimony, a property settlement payment, and a motorcycle awarded the debtor in a pre-petition divorce became property of the estate though an appeal of the divorce was pending on the petition date?
Ruling: 
The alimony, property settlement award, and motorcycle awarded the debtor in the pre-petition divorce order were property of the bankruptcy estate. The broad scope of 11 U.S.C. § 541(a) encompassed the debtor's interest in these assets on the petition date based on the divorce court's dispositive, pre-petition order. None of the exclusions under § 541(b), (c)(2), or (d) applied to these assets, and the debtor did not identify any provision of § 541(b) or nonbankruptcy law incorporated by § 541(c)(2) that would exclude from the bankruptcy estate the debtor's entitlement to a stream of alimony payments. The pending appeal also did not remove the assets from the estate since contingent future interests are not excluded. Finally, the 180-day provision of § 541(a)(5)(B) did not apply because the debtor's interests in the assets all arose pre-petition.
Full Bankruptcy Court Decision: