Money inherited more than 180 days after petition date belongs to Chapter 13 bankruptcy estate

In Moore, the bankruptcy court for the Eastern District of Tennessee joined a majority of courts and held that money inherited outside of the 180 day window set forth in § 541 was still property of the chapter 13 estate. In the Moore case, the debtors filed for chapter 13 relief on November 15, 2016. The Debtor’s father passed away almost 18 months later and Mr. Moore received an inheritance of $14,76483 from his father’s estate.

The Debtors then filed a motion to retain the inheritance so they could purchase a vehicle. The Chapter 13 Trustee objected, arguing the Debtors were seeking to retain non-exempt funds.

The legal issue for the court was whether the inheritance was property of the bankruptcy estate in light of §541, which provides that an inheritance received up to 6 months after the petition date is property of the bankruptcy estate “The Debtors contended the inheritance I excluded from the estate because it would be excluded by § 541()(5)(A). “

Conversely, the trustee argued that in chapter 13 cases, property of the estate includes that which is brought in pursuant to §541, and also includes “all property of the kind specified in [§541] that the debtor acquires after the commencement of the case but before the case is closed, dismissed, or converted to a case under chapter 7, 11, or 12 of this title, whichever occurs first[.] “ Noting that “There is a split in the authorities interpreting whether property inherited outside the 180-day period should be included in a chapter 13 estate,” the Moore court noted that “[t]he overwhelming majority of courts to have addressed this issue ‘agree that § 1306 modifies the § 541 time period in Chapter 13 cases” and concluded that post-petition inheritances received beyond 6 months after the petition date are also included in the bankruptcy estate.

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