Chapter 7 Bankruptcy - "6 Month Food, Fuel and Provision" - Part 2

I have more information on what "6 months of food, fuel, food" actually means. Finally, I talked about whether the grocery store's gift card is considered an exempt asset. Today I would like to mention a few things about prepaying your electricity fee.

Let's go back to February this year. The married couple submitted a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in a logical attempt to provide six months' worth of fuel and / or provision, as permitted under a specific exemption. Specifically, a total of $ 3,333.50 is stated in the schedule C prepaid utility. Their trustee objected.

The debtor so infer. As we have stated so far, Arizona's Food and Fuel Exempt Law ARS 33-1124 permits ambiguous "six months of food, fuel and food". Because simply purchasing substantial amounts of electricity and natural gas and not being able to keep it in the backyard, the debtor estimated the average utility every month and made a prepayment for six months.

There is a catch. The total amount of the schedule C is "the amount of debtors $ 1,000 for quests, Arizona public service, $ 1,400, Phoenix City $ 750, Southwest Gas Company, $ 183.50 amount.

The court agreed to possess potentially harmful and volatile fuels for 6 months (Do your neighbors want to store six months of propane in their backyard?). Therefore, unlike the gift card example, prepayment was considered an acceptable substitute.

However, the court questioned whether these utilities actually fall under the subject of exemption granted by ARS 33-1124. Fuel & # 39; Friendly old webster (Webster), not defined by Arizona's case law,[A] Material burned to supply heat or electricity, such as coal, oil, gas, wood, etc. ..... [F] Issuing substances that can obtain nuclear energy like nuclear reactors ... ... ... "

Therefore, the court concluded that "providing natural gas or electricity is within the parameters of the definition", but telephone / internet providers or city deposits are not included in the definition of fuel. So, Arizona public service (electricity) and southwest gas (gas) are included. Quest (telephone / Internet) and Phoenix City (garbage / water) are out.

What did we learn today?

1. Prepayment for utilities that supply "fuel" can be exempted from the amount equivalent to 6 months payment.
2. Internet / telephone and water garbage are not fuel. Similar exemptions do not apply.

We may also deduce from now that the court does not regard these excluded public interest laws as "clauses". This is because the exemption status changes. So, I would like to repeat the questions I asked before.