Bankruptcy

"Do I Get to Keep My Horse in My Bankruptcy Case in Arizona?"

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

And I say yes for a bunch of reasons, because the legal analysis is the same as a diamond ring, but a little better, because diamond rings don't eat, step on folks, poop, or die.

Trustees don't much want assets that eat, and require boarding, and medical care, and food (horses eat a lot, you know?), poop, or that step on people and cause lawsuits for the bankruptcy estate.

And there are various ways to keep horses in your bankruptcy.

But the easiest is to consult reality.

How much is your horse worth?

No, I don't mean how much did you pay for your horse.

I mean, how much is it worth?

Today?

There were previously two slaughterhouses for horses in the United States, I've heard. And I've also heard that they have both closed. So France gets less horse from the United States now.

That means that it costs six hundred dollars to put a horse down in a humane fashion! Three hundred to put 'em to sleep in a humane way, and three hundred to dispose of the body. In an inhumane way.

So I've heard.

Now, there's a pet exemption. And we can stack it, if there's one horsie and one hubbie and one wifie.

But there's also a food exemption.

For six months of food, fuel and provisions.

Lotta good eatin' on a horse, right?

A smart bankruptcy lawyer buddy of mine was successful in exempting a 900-pound 4-H pig, beloved of the entire family, in that way.

But the most important thing to do with your horse is to find comparable horses on the internet for sale.

If a precisely similar horse is being given away for free (My Favorite Price) on the Internet in twenty different places around Arizona, well, how much could your horse be sold for?

Even if you dangle participles?

And I'm not even going to make a gelding joke out of the dangling participle, because I'm waaaaaay too professional and stodgy for that, thank you very much!

Now, if your horse is worth fifty thousand dollars on the market today, we'll have to put our heads together to figure out how to save him, but my guess it that there's a way to save that horse.

We always have in the past, and I expect we always will in the future.

One way or another.

NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on July 30, 2010 (boomark / email).