My Income Is Below Median, How Long Do I Pay My Chapter 13 Payments?

BELOW THE LINE DEBTOR MUST RUN 36 MONTHS
In re Pohl, Case No. 06-41236
May 2007, Judge Karlin
The Court determined that a below the line debtor’s case must “run” 36 months, unless it
pays off all claims in full, citing 1325(b)(4). Below the line disposable income
determined by Schedule J, since the bottom half of B22C does not get filled out by a BMI
debtor. ACP is temporal and not a multiplier. Judge Karlin cited, with approval, Judge
Somers’ decision, In re Daniel and Judge Berger’s decisions, In re Beckerle and In re
Anderson on the ACP issue.

BELOW THE LINE DEBTOR MUST RUN 36 MONTHS
In re Pohl, Case No. 06-41236
May 2007, Judge Karlin

The Court determined that a below the line debtor’s case must “run” 36 months, unless it pays off all claims in full, citing 1325(b)(4). Below the line disposable income determined by Schedule J, since the bottom half of B22C does not get filled out by a BMI debtor. ACP is temporal and not a multiplier. Judge Karlin cited, with approval, Judge Somers’ decision, In re Daniel and Judge Berger’s decisions, In re Beckerle and In re Anderson on the ACP issue.

Source:  Jan Hamilton, Trustee

Debtor Audits Stopped (for Now)

The U.S. Trustee has stopped auditing debtors in bankruptcy cases. The Executive Office of the U.S. Trustee says Congress did not fund the budget for the audits in the 2008 appropriations bill. Alternate funding is being sought so the audits can resume, the EOUST reports.

This is good news for debtors whose advocates testified at a Congressional hearing in October 2007 that the audits were abusive to debtors because of overbearing auditors and erroneous reports of material misstatements in the bankruptcy papers.

See my post on the Bankruptcy Law Network for more details and the official statement by the U.S. Trustee.

Verified by MonsterInsights