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Opinion 368

Case Name: 

Rupp v. Larson (In re Larson)

Judge: 
Judge Boulden
Date: 
Jan-27-1994
Case Number(s): 
93PB-2034
Status: 

UNPUBLISHED

Body: 

Pursuant to a motion by the chapter 7 trustee, the court denied debtor's discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(2), (3) and (4), due to debtor's pre-petition transfer of his home, failure to list any assets other than clothes and tools in his schedules, and failure to either keep recorded information or turn over recorded information to the trustee. The court found that, in transferring his home, debtor retained a secret interest in it, intending to hinder, defraud or delay his creditors and the bankruptcy trustee. Applying the doctrine of continuing concealment, the court held that debtor's acts occurred within the one-year period prior to filing of the petition required by § 727(a)(2)(A), and also found that debtor's acts continued after filing of the petition under § 727(a)(2)(B). The court considered whether debtor had produced records or information from which his financial condition could be ascertained, or had justified his failure to do so, in accordance with § 727(a)(3), and found that debtor had kept records, but had either failed to preserve them or had concealed them without justification. The court also considered whether debtor's failure to list numerous assets and liabilities in his schedules, including a retained equitable interest in real property, was sufficient to comprise a false oath pursuant to § 727(a)(4)(A), finding from the totality of the circumstances that debtor's failure to disclose information constituted a false oath or account, made knowingly and fraudulently, in connection with material matters related to the bankruptcy case.

Internal Ref: 
Opinion 368
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