where to file

[Backagain]

I am writing on behalf of a friend. I was here on this site years back. Old nickname was Geeznowwhat. I cannot seem to recover that.

anyway, you folks were absolutely the best help. Maybe you can help now.

My friend is an exercise rider at various race tracks. He lives and works at the racetracks. He moves from one track to the next every 3-4 months. (When the track closes after each meet, he has to move to the next).

he has had some serious medical issues requiring lengthy hospital stay. No insurance. No way he can ever pay it.

I have poured over the requirements to file chapter 7…I cannot figure out what to tell him about how he can file or where.

any guidance here?

[despritfreya]

Where does he consider "home"? Where does he vote? Where is his car registered? What about his driver's license?

Des.

[Backagain]

He does not vote. “Home” is the race track. Sometimes he has used an address of a friend to get a driver license, many years he has had no license because he usually has no need for a car. This past spring, for example, he was able to use the address of a racetrack in Maryland to get a license. That track closed in April and will not reopen until December…so, if he needs mail it is not possible to get in a timely fashion. Plus, the office at the racetracks (when they are open) will not forward mail. He is currently in Miami, arrived there in June (most of that time in the hospital) He is back to working everyday… plans to move to Aqueduct racetrack in NYC till March when that track closes. Of course that depends on getting work there…. No work, no room on the track.

he has lived like this for his entire adult life …. more than 40 years. I looked at his schedule, and he really hasn’t been anywhere for more than a few months. He is constrained by the availability of rooms for people who work in the backstretch. Parx racetrack in Philadelphia (for example) is open year round, but he cannot get a room on the track there and cannot afford rent off track..so he doesn’t go there to work. That is true of the tracks that are open year round…no one ever moves from them, so no rooms available.
.
he is concerned that he doesn’t make enough to pay these bills. The track helped somewhat..but he is still getting big bills for his share. He makes between 200 and 350 per week….depending on how many horses he rides each day. If it goes to collection he will be banned from the tracks. “Financial irresponsiblity ” is one reason the tracks can take away your license to be there. The tracks cannot and will not do garnishments.

he is really in an impossible situation..he really has to file bankruptcy. Is there some rule that allows him to file federal? There must be some obscure rule for people who are working but are truly transient.

[despritfreya]

If he is that ill, I suspect he will not be riding horses for much longer. If he becomes unemployed and has no assets there is nothing a creditor can do to collect. Will he qualify for SS disability? If he does, payments under SS are protected from creditors so long as they are not commingled with non SS money.

As to his location for filing bk, when he gets to NY he should meet with a bk attny. He should bring with him a chart showing exactly where he resided over the past two years and where his assets were located (maybe he left things in 1 state while he was in another). The chart needs to include a beginning date and an ending date for each state. In the end, he may simple file where he is at that moment and use Federal exemptions.

There are two issues:

1. Venue - which is based upon where he resided OR where his assets were located withing the 91 days prior to filing; and

2. Exemptions - which is based upon where he lived for the two years prior to filing.

The first covers the proper state to actually file in and the second covers what things he gets to keep in a Chapter 7.

Venue is based upon 28 USC 1408 which, in part, states:

a case under title 11 may be commenced in the district. . .(for) which the domicile, residence, principal place of business in the United States, or principal assets in the United States, of the person. . . that is the subject of such case have been located for the one hundred and eighty days immediately preceding such commencement, or for a longer portion of such one-hundred-and-eighty-day period (91 days) than the domicile, residence, or principal place of business, in the United States, or principal assets in the United States, of such person were located in any other district.

(Emphasis added.)

Violating this provision simply means the case was filed in the wrong place and someone can request that it be transferred to the correct place. This rarely happens in a consumer filing.

Exemptions are based upon 11 USC 522(b)(3) which, in part, states:

Exemptions are based upon

State or local law that is applicable on the date of the filing of the petition to the place in which the debtor’s domicile has been located for the 730 days immediately preceding the date of the filing of the petition or if the debtor’s domicile has not been located in a single State for such 730-day period, the place in which the debtor’s domicile was located for 180 days immediately preceding the 730-day period or for a longer portion of such 180-day period than in any other place.

(Emphasis added)

Violating this provision simply results in an objection to the claim of exemption and the filing of an Amended Schedule C utilizing the correct exemptions.

Your friend just needs to meet with an attorney and have a plan in place should someone object to venue or the exemptions taken. I do not see this as a big deal.

Des.

[Backagain]

Thank you. The info you dug up was very helpful!!
I told him that he needs to go to a bk attorney wherever he is when he finds the time. I guess it will be NYC if he can get into Aqueduct.

I forwarded the rest of this for him. The OR part of each section will be what he likely needs to see.

since his only assets are those items related to horse riding… (saddles, bridles, boots, helmet, vest, etc) and his sometime car, I believe that the value to anyone else will be pretty low. Also, I think he will easily pass the means test.

he has had 3 stints put in, in 2 surgeries. The first 2, then another a couple weeks later. But..now he is back to riding every morning. He is incredibly physically fit…probably why he survived without longer term damage to his heart. Even when he cannot ride anymore, I am sure there are other jobs at the track he can do. (Assistant trainer comes to mind). The tracks do offer pensions to long term workers like him, but he is still too young to qualify.