Styler v. Local Loan Fin. Servs. (In re Lanctot), 6 B.R. 576 (Bankr.D.Utah)
PUBLISHED
Debtors purchased two motorcycles from lender pursuant to a purchase money security agreement, which was never perfected. In debtors' chapter 7 proceeding, trustee filed an adversary complaint against lender seeking to set aside its interest under 11 U.S.C. § 544, and to preserve the lien for the estate under 11 U.S.C. § 551. Lender stipulated to the relief sought by trustee. The court ruled that trustee's hypothetical judicial lien was automatically preserved for the estate by § 551, but that debtors were still subject to lender's contractual claim. Debtors claimed an exemption in the motorcycles under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(5), which the court determined would not be available to them unless they established an "aggregate interest" in the property, which would require them to either avoid lender's lien, which still bound them under state law and exceeded the property's value, or obtain the benefit of trustee's avoidance of that lien. Such powers would only be provided by the exemption statute, and the court considered subsections (c), (f), (g), and (h) of § 522, concluding that none of those provisions would allow debtors' to claim an exemption.