Most of us have an idea of what income is for federal or state tax purposes. Wages are income, as are gains on the sale of stock. Dividends and interest also qualify. We know that. It’s intuitive and easy to understand. The classic definition of income is that it’s the return on labor or capital. [...]
Means Testing
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy debtor may deduct the full IRS Standards vehicle allowance even though the actual payment may be less, per a decision by Bankruptcy Judge Laura Grandy in the Southern District of Illinois case of In re Scott, 10-32582 (August 8, 2011). When the Supreme Court ruled in Ransom v. FIA [...]
If you’re considering filing bankruptcy, you probably already know how important it is to properly complete Form B22, the bankruptcy means test, which determines whether you are eligible to file chapter 7, or whether you must instead file a repayment chapter 13 case. The means test also affects how much you must pay into a [...]
An individual same-sex married person who files bankruptcy faces a choice whether to include spousal income for purposes of determining how much unsecured creditors could receive from the bankruptcy case. This choice is not available to the heterosexual married debtor due to an intended consequence of Congressional legislation that requires the heterosexual married debtor include [...]
If you are an “above-median income” debtor, you may wonder if you can still file Chapter 7. The answer to this question is “yes,” but your case will be more complicated. Although the phrase “means test” suggests a single calculation, in fact, means testing involves several calculations – it would be more accurate to describe [...]
If you’re filing for bankruptcy, do you still have to pay back creditors? Depending on how your local court looks at it, that old car may save you $200 a month. When you file for bankruptcy, you’ve got to pay unsecured creditors an amount equal to the projected disposable income available to you during a [...]
