In re Richards
Citation | 131 BR 76 |
Decision Date | 09 July 1991 |
Docket Number | Bankruptcy No. 1-88-00364,Adv. No. 1-90-0076. |
Parties | In Re William A. RICHARDS, Debtor. Edwyna RICHARDS, Plaintiff, v. William A. RICHARDS, Defendant. |
Court | United States Bankruptcy Courts. Sixth Circuit. U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Southern District of Ohio |
Gerald R. Leshner, Fairfield, Ohio, for debtor/defendant.
Paul E. Perry, Fairfield, Ohio, for plaintiff.
Charles Caldwell, Cincinnati, Ohio, Asst. U.S. Trustee.
DECISION
The present adversary proceeding is related to Chapter 7 bankruptcy case number X-XX-XXXXX. The complaint was filed by plaintiff Edwyna Richards against her former husband, here defendant, William A. Richards, to determine the dischargeability of a certain debt under 11 U.S.C. § 523.
This court has jurisdiction of this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b) and the General Order of Reference entered in this district. This is a core proceeding arising under 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(I).
Our record is an Agreed Statement of Facts stipulated to by the parties. Such Statement comprises our findings of fact. In its entirety, it is as follows:
We are thus faced with a fact pattern where subsequent to a bankruptcy filing, a divorce action was filed by debtor's spouse, and a decree of divorce was entered. That decree contained a provision:
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the debt owing to the Defendant, Edwyna Richards\', family in the amount of Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred, Ninety Dollars and four cents ($7,790.04) is a marital obligation and that each party shall pay one-half of the amount outstanding to Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Holman, the Defendant\'s parents.
After defendant's bankruptcy case was closed, he moved to have it reopened for the purpose of adding additional creditors, specifically, plaintiff and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Holman. Such motion was granted, and thereafter plaintiff filed her complaint in the present adversary proceeding to determine the dischargeability of defendant's obligation to Mr. and Mrs. Holman.
Plaintiff argues that the post-filing divorce decree created a new debt as of the date of the decree, for at no time prior to the date of the decree did plaintiff have any enforceable right against defendant to compel him to contribute toward the payment of the Holman debt. Since it is post-filing, she says, it is unaffected by the bankruptcy. Defendant, on the other hand, argues that the debt was a pre-filing debt which arose at the time that the money was advanced by the Holmans and was discharged when he received his discharge in bankruptcy.
No question is raised about the regularity of the proceedings in the state Domestic Relations Court, nor that that court had jurisdiction to enter the decree that it did. What is under attack by debtor is one provision of that decree, debtor contending that the obligation of that provision should be held discharged by his bankruptcy discharge.
We are not free to interfere with the operation of the decree of a state court of competent jurisdiction absent federal...
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