Ida Marie Tucker Bowling

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
RALEIGH DIVISION
IN RE:
IDA MARIE TUCKER BOWLING,
DEBTOR.
CASE NO.
09-07294-8-JRL
Chapter 7
ORDER
This case is before the court on the trustee’s objection to the debtor’s claim of
exemptions. A hearing took place in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 8, 2009.
The debtor filed a voluntary petition for relief under chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code on
August 27, 2009. On Schedule C-1, paragraph 13, the debtor claimed as exempt real property
located at 101 Prescott Drive, Durham, North Carolina. In June 2009, on the advice of
bankruptcy counsel, the debtor and her husband transmuted their ownership interests in the
property from tenants in common to tenants by the entirety. At the time of the transfer, the
debtor had $56,000.00 of unsecured debt in her name only. The trustee contends that the transfer
was made with the intent to defraud creditors and argues that the entireties exemption cannot be
claimed in property fraudulently conveyed.
Under 11 U.S.C. § 522 a debtor may claim as exempt “any interest in property in which
the debtor had, immediately before the commencement of the case, an interest as a tenant by the
SO ORDERED.
SIGNED this 06 day of January, 2010.
________________________________________
J. Rich Leonard
United States Bankruptcy Judge
____________________________________________________________
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entirety . . . to the extent that such interest . . . is exempt from process under applicable
nonbankruptcy law.” 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(3) (2009). 	In North Carolina a debtor may claim
property as exempt under the common law doctrine of tenancy by the entireties. In re Knapp,
285 B.R. 176, 182 (Bankr. M.D.N.C. 2002) (citing In re Banks, 22 B.R. 891 (Bankr. W.D.N.C.
1982)). The debtor, a North Carolina resident, held the real property at issue as tenants by the
entireties immediately before the commencement of this case, and as such she is entitled to claim
the exemption.
Based on the evidence presented at hearing, the trustee’s objection to the debtor’s claim
of exemptions is OVERRULED without prejudice to the trustee’s ability to file an adversary
proceeding to set aside the conveyance as a fraudulent transfer.
“END OF DOCUMENT”
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