Case No. 00-02270.United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Columbia.
January 19, 2011
Not for Publication in West’s Bankruptcy Reporter MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER RE APPLICATION FOR RELEASE OF UNCLAIMED FUNDS
S. TEEL JR., Bankruptcy Judge
The Application for Release of Unclaimed Funds filed by “Bank of America, N.A. dba MBNA” on November 24, 2010, seeks, in part, a release of $10.02 deposited re Claim No. 19, and includes a certification that “the claim of the creditor has not been satisfied from other sources, and the amount of the claim that remains unpaid is equal to or exceeds the amount of the unclaimed funds,” but includes no backup materials for that statement. The accuracy of the statement is in doubt because the application also sought the release of another $6,472.05 in funds that it erroneously asserted remained unclaimed when, to the contrary, the $6,472.05 had been released to Bank of America on March 31, 2006.
This is a 2000 case. The trustee deposited the unclaimed
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funds in 2002. We know that the check issued by the trustee to “Bank of America” for $10.02 went uncashed, but the Application sets forth no reason why the check went uncashed.
The creditor could have received payment of the debt by the date the check went uncashed (which would explain why the check was not cashed) or by a later date: it could have received payment of the creditor’s claim from some co-debtor; the debtor could have voluntarily repaid the debt; and the creditor could have enforced a lien on non-estate property or a right of setoff.
Nor do we have any indication, after these many years, how the certification could be made that the debt remains unpaid. Does the creditor have records at this date showing that the debt was never paid? If it has no such records, how can anyone certify that the debt was never paid? It is thus
ORDERED that within 35 days after entry of this order, the applicant shall supplement its Application by filing a declaration executed under penalty of perjury that sets forth to the best of the declarant’s ability why the check from the trustee went uncashed and that attaches the latest account records showing that the claim remains unpaid in an amount equal to or exceeding the unclaimed funds (or an explanation of how the declarant knows that the claim remains unpaid to that extent even though account records are unavailable).
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The document below is hereby signed.
Signed: January 19, 2011.
Karen Hartford Polk, Bank of America, NC1-021-03-40, Charlotte, NC.
Bank of America, N.A., c/o Lorin W. Tate, POA, Gaithersburg, MD.