Louise Babcock Boney

1 At the hearing, the debtor withdrew the motion to abandon as to her interest in real property
located in Tarboro, North Carolina.
IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
WILMINGTON DIVISION
IN RE:
LOUISE BABCOCK BONEY,
Debtor. Case No. 05-08253-8-JRL
Chapter 7
____________________________________________________________________________
ORDER
This matter is before the court on the debtor’s motion to abandon. On March 15, 2006, the
court conducted a hearing in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The debtor filed her Chapter 7 petition on October 5, 2005. At the time, she owned real
property in Wilmington, NC with her non-filing spouse as tenants by the entirety. The debtor claimed an
exemption in her residence under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(2)(B). She seeks an order directing the trustee
to abandon her interest in the real property, as the debtor and her husband have no joint debts.1
The Chapter 7 trustee contends that they do have joint debts. Specifically, the debtor and her
husband owe a joint debt to Wachovia Bank in the amount of $5,000, which is secured by 1999
SO ORDERED.
SIGNED this 22 day of March, 2006.
________________________________________
J. Rich Leonard
United States Bankruptcy Judge
____________________________________________________________
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2 The debtor presented evidence at the hearing, in the form of a N.A.D.A. valuation, indicating
that the secured claim asserted by Wachovia Bank was fully secured and there would be no deficiency.
The trustee contends that a vehicle sold at auction is often not purchased for its full value.
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Mercury Marquis. The court granted a motion for relief from stay as to this vehicle but the trustee
believes the debt is greater than the vehicle’s value, resulting in a deficiency claim that can be asserted
by Wachovia Bank.2 Additionally, the debtor lists numerous medical bills in her petition, which are joint
debts under the common law doctrine of necessaries. The debtor has also testified that her husband has
medical debts but she has not provided the trustee with records of these bills. The trustee asks that this
motion be denied.
Tenancy by the entirety is a mode of possessing title to property that is recognized in North
Carolina courts as “a unique form of holding title to real property, available only to married persons,”
whereby husband and wife acquire the entire estate, “constituting the proprietorship of the whole, and
of every part and parcel thereof.” McLean v. McLean, 323 N.C. 543, 551 (1988). Creditors of the
individual husband or wife cannot reach entirety property to satisfy their debts. Joint creditors of both
spouses, however, can procure a judgment against the husband and wife on a joint obligation, and it will
attach to the entireties property. See In re Foreclosure of Deed of Trust, 50 N.C. App. 69, 73 (N.C.
Ct. App. 1980).
The trustee acknowledged at the hearing that the debtor has no existing medical debts;
however, he believes the debtor’s husband has incurred such debts. The debtor asserted that under the
doctrine of necessaries in North Carolina, a wife cannot be liable for her husband’s medical debts. As
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3 At the hearing, the trustee also asserted that the debtor and her husband have not paid their
federal and state income taxes for 2004, representing a joint debt.
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such, the debtor and her husband have no joint medical debt.3
After a brief review of North Carolina case law, the court finds that the doctrine of
necessaries, “hereto applicable only to medical services provided to the wife, applies to such services
provided to either spouse.” See North Carolina Baptist Hospitals, Inc. v. Harris, 319 N.C. 347, 349
(1987) Therefore, a wife may be held responsible for the necessary medical expenses incurred by her
husband even in the absence of an express undertaking on her part. Id. at 353-54.
Based on the foregoing, the court directs the debtor to provide a list of her husband’s medical
debts at the time of filing within ten days of the entry of this order to the trustee. Upon receiving this list,
the trustee is directed to determine whether he will administer the debtor’s real property for the benefit
of any joint creditors or abandon the property due to the de minimus nature of the debts. Accordingly,
the court will defer ruling on the debtor’s motion pending the debtor and the trustee’s compliance with
this order.
“END OF DOCUMENT”
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