Henry W. Shupe and April Sue Shupe

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
at Greenbelt
IN RE: 	:
:
HENRY W. SHUPE 	: 	Case No. 07-17354PM
APRIL SUE SHUPE 	: 	Chapter 7
:
Debtors 	:
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FORD MOTOR CREDIT COMPANY LLC :
Movant 	:
vs. 	:
:
HENRY W. SHUPE 	:
APRIL SUE SHUPE 	:
MERRILL COHEN, Trustee 	:
Respondents 	:
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MEMORANDUM TO COUNSEL
On February 20, 2008, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC (“Ford”) filed a Motion seeking
an order pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(h)(1) confirming the termination of the automatic stay of
§ 362(a) on account of Debtors’ failure to file timely a Statement of Intention, allegedly required
by § 521(a)(2)(A) of the Bankruptcy Code that provides in part:
11 U.S.C. § 521. Debtor’s duties
(a) The debtor shall-
* 	* 	* 	* 	*
(2) if an individual debtor’s schedule of assets and liabilities
includes debts which are secured by property of the estate-
Date signed February 26, 2008
Entered: February 27, 2008 Case 07-17354 Doc 46 Filed 02/27/08 Page 1 of 2

(A) within thirty days after the date of the filing of a
petition under chapter 7 of this title or on or before the date of the
meeting of creditors, whichever is earlier, or within such additional
time as the court, for cause, within such period fixes, the debtor
shall file with the clerk a statement of his intention with respect to
the retention or surrender of such property and, if applicable,
specifying that such property is claimed as exempt, that the debtor
intends to redeem such property, or that the debtor intends to
reaffirm debts secured by such property.
What distinguishes this case from many other cases where such motions have been filed
is that this case was originally filed under Chapter 13 on August 7, 2007. The difficulty with the
position asserted by Ford is that on October 31, 2007, an Order was entered converting this case
to a case under Chapter 7 on Debtors’ motion. Under § 348(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, the
conversion of a case does not effect a change in the date of the filing of the petition, the
commencement of the case, or the order for relief. Section 348(c) provides that only with § 342
and § 365(d) of the Bankruptcy Code is the conversion order treated as if it were the order for
relief. Section 521(a)(2) is applicable only to Debtors filing under Chapter 7. Ford elects to file
this motion instead of filing a motion for relief from the automatic stay, assuming grounds for
such relief exists. If Ford’s position is correct, then debtors would automatically lose the
protection of 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) in every case that was converted to a case under Chapter 7 on a
date more than 30 days after the filing of the petition on account of not filing a Statement that
they were not required to file in the first place. The court does not believe that Congress
intended this absurd result, but counsel for the parties are invited to file memoranda before
March 15, 2008, as to the applicability of § 521(a)(2)(A) and § 362(h) in the situation presented
at bar.
cc:
Michael J. Klima, Jr., Esq., 8600 LaSalle Road, Suite 200, Towson, MD 21286
Daniel J. Guenther, Esq., P.O. Box 623, Leonardtown, MD 20650
Merrill Cohen, Trustee, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 760, Bethesda, MD 20814
Henry/April Shuupe, 43252 Waverly Court, Hollywood, MD 20636
End of Memorandum
Case 07-17354 Doc 46 Filed 02/27/08 Page 2 of 2