The bankruptcy court granted the UST’s motion to dismiss. “Rules 1016 and 1017(f) do not permit the debtor’s Chapter 13 case to be converted to one under Chapter 7 under the facts of this case. The Court, the case trustee, and other parties in interest should be promptly notified of the death of a debtor under bankruptcy protection, particularly where relief is sought under a reorganization chapter. Under Chapter 13 the case is subject to dismissal under Rule 1016 following the death of a debtor if further administration is not possible and allowing the case to continue does not serve the best interests of creditors and the bankruptcy estate. The failure to provide such notification in the present case prevented a proper evaluation of this case. Further, the failure to obtain permission from the Court to permit the debtor’s probate estate representative to act for the debtor casts serious doubt upon the authority of counsel to take instruction from the representative,” the court said. “The Court recognizes that a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 case could be at the stage where notice of the debtor’s death and recognition of the authority of a personal representative would be less important than in this case. However, in most cases, pleadings, amended schedules, reports, or an amended plan may be required. Parties in interest may well have service of process questions. For instance, do you serve the debtor with summons and complaint on adversarial proceeding by taping the documents to his tombstone with duct tape? Or, should his coffin be unearthed, opened and the documents placed on top of his skull or chest cavity? These are the legal questions that must be analyzed. Creditors and parties in interest may need to reevaluate their positions whether to prosecute a motion for stay relief or dischargeability action in the cemetery instead of bankruptcy court.

Lawrence Bautista Yang is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and has been in law practice for thirty years. He specializes in bankruptcy, business and civil litigation and has handled more than five thousand successful bankruptcy cases in California. He speaks Mandarin and Fujien and looks forward to discussing your case with you personally. Please call (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S Fremont Ave Bldg A-1 Suite 1125 Unit 58 Alhambra, CA 91803.