In re: Antonie, No. 41:10-cv-00373-BLW (Bankr. D. Idaho, March 31, 2011).
In a recent 9th Circuit decision, a bankruptcy court in Idaho wrestled with the issue of whether a debtor can claim a homestead exemption in a joint tenancy.
In 2009, Jacqueline Antonie filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy without an attorney. At the time, she jointly owned a home and a mobile home with her 86-year old mother, Frances Bruckner. She lived in the home, and her mother lived in the mobile home. Following the advice of an estate planning attorney, Jacqueline's mother allowed the title to the mobile home to be in both Jacqueline and her names, so that when she passed away, the property would be conveyed automatically to Jacqueline, avoiding the probate process.
In filing her bankruptcy Schedules, Jacqueline reported her interest in both homes, and claimed they were exempt under federal law. However, the bankruptcy trustee challenged the exemption, because Idaho was an "opt-out" state that permitted only Idaho exemptions, not federal exemptions to be used. When Jacqueline failed to respond to the trustee's objection, and the court disallowed her exemption.
Additionally, the trustee claimed he could sell Jacqueline's mother's mobile home, prompting her mother to file her own Chapter 7 case. The court, in deciding whether Jacqueline could exempt her interest in both homes, decided that she could not claim as exempt her interest in the mobile home. The court reasoned that Idaho law contemplates an exemption in only one dwelling, where Jacqueline was trying to claim two. She already claimed a homestead exemption in the home in which she resides, and could not therefore claim one in her mother's home. Although her mother had her own homestead exemption, it did not shield her daughter's interest in the home, only her own.
