. . . obvious the debtor intended to deceive the creditor and obtain merchandise with a worthless check, a check incapable of being honored by the bank.

The issue in this Chapter 13 case was whether the debtor filed the case in good faith. A determination of good faith can only be found by an examination of the totality of the circumstances.

In this case, several factors resulted in this court ruling the Chapter 13 petition was filed in bad faith, including that debtor represented his income as being very low, while previously representing to his insurance company that he had a substantially higher income.

The court found that there was a series of misrepresentations made by the debtor, beginning with the debt that resulted from the worthless check; debtor’s credibility was impugned and the Chapter 13 case was dismissed as having been filed in bad faith. In re Frank Kuriakuz, 155 B.R. 454.

Author: Charles R. Harroun, Attorney at Law