About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

18 Bankr. Dev. J. 399 (2001-2002)
Tithing: A Fraudulent Transfer or a Moral Obligation

handle is hein.journals/bnkd18 and id is 405 raw text is: TITHING: A FRAUDULENT TRANSFER OR A MORAL OBLIGATION? INTRODUCTION Tithing is generally defined as a religious practice of giving ten percent of one's income to a religious institution.1 Although many churches do not require their members to tithe, some members feel compelled to do so, yet feel no moral obligation to pay back their debts. Should debtors be allowed to continue tithing to religious organizations while their unsecured creditors walk away empty- handed? Many debtors contend that because tithing is a religious practice, their contributions are protected under the First Amendment Free Exercise Clause. Therefore, a bankruptcy trustee who recovers or avoids a debtor's charitable contribution would violate her First Amendment right to freely exercise her religion. Trustees, however, argue that the Bankruptcy Code (the Code) permits them to avoid or recover such contributions because debtors are merely evading their financial obligations to creditors.3 Even though these same arguments have been made in many bankruptcy courts, some courts have forced unsecured creditors to I BLACK'SLAWDIGrIONARY1492 (7th ed. 1999). See In reIvy, Bankr. No. 387-02293-H13, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2325, at *2 (D. Or. Mar. 11, 1988) (Debtors argued that failure to confirm their reorganization plan was an unconstitutional infringement upon their first amendment right to freely exercise their chosen religion.) af'd, No. 88-3769, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 21538 (9th Cir. Dec. 10, 1990); In re Reynolds, 83 B.R. 684, 684 (Bankr. W.D. Mo. 1988); In re Green, 73 B.RI 893, 893 (Bankr. W.D. Mich. 1987). See generally Cedar Bayou Baptist Church v. Gregory-Edwards, Inc., 987 S.W.2d 156 (Tex. App. 1999) (church argues that recovering contributions given to it is unconstitutional); Christian v. Crystal Evangelical Free Church (In re Young), 141 F.3d 854 (8th Cir. 1998) (recovering contributions violated debtors' free exercise of religion). 3 See generally In re Buxton, 228 B.R. 606, 611 (Bankr. W.D. La. 1999) (explaining that increasing debtor's charitable contributions burdens unsecured creditors); In reBien, 95 B.R. 281, 281 (Bankr. D. Conn. 1989) (rejecting trustee's argument that not all disposable income was included in chapter 13 plan to pay creditors because of charitable contribution to church). 399

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most