CONCEALED ASSETS CANNOT BE CLAIMED EXEMPT FOLLOWING DISCOVERY BY TRUSTEE
December 29, 2003
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A debtor is not entitled to a claim of exemption on an asset which she knowingly concealed and failed to disclose and then later disclosed and claimed as exempt.
Debtor concealed receipt of approximately $4,000 in personal injury settlement funds, and concealed the bank account into which the funds were deposited on the eve of bankruptcy. The assets were discovered by the trustee several months after the bankruptcy was filed.
COMMENT: The court followed the majority rule that debtors may not claim as exempt assets which they knowingly concea and which are determined to be property of the estate, even if debtors argued that the property was not property of the estate.
In re Grogan, __ B.R. __ (Bkrtcy.Utah 2003)
