Sieber v. Rose

In the case of Sieber v. Rose, the United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, upheld the Bankruptcy Court’s determination that a Debtor’s failure to list an exempt property barred that Debtor from claiming those exemptions later. This decision the Court reached was that Debtor had acted in bad faith to conceal the assets of the estate and hinder administration by the credits. However, it is quite possible that the Debtor would have been able to fully exempt some, if not all, of these assets if he had been properly represented. It is imperative that a prospective Bankruptcy Debtor work with an attorney in listing and exempting his property and disclosing his income and expenses. Otherwise, filing a bankruptcy case can be comparable to playing Russian Roulette with bullets in the chamber.