Kretzinger v. First State Bank of Waynoka (In Re Kretzinger)

BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.

Debtors Edwin D. and Rena J. Kretzinger appeal from a district court order affirming the decision of the bankruptcy court denying a homestead exemption for all but two of the eighty acres surrounding their rural home. 1 The dispositive question presented is whether, as a matter of Oklahoma law, an express declaration of rural homestead is vitiated by lease of the designated property for agricultural activities which, if conducted by the resident owners themselves, would be consistent with homestead status. We conclude that it is not and, accordingly, reverse with…