Can Negative Projected Disposable Income Offset Positive Projected Disposable Income?

By Kenneth Siomos, Attorney Representing Chapter 13 Trustee John H. Germeraad, Petersburg, IL

A number of important questions about § 1325(b), the disposable income test, have been resolved or, at least, appear to be near a final resolution. The Supreme Court, in Hamilton v. Lanning, determined that a debtor’s disposable income is just a presumptive starting point when determining “projected disposable income.”1 Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal interpreting the “applicable commitment period” are currently in unanimous agreement that even when disposable income is negative, an . . .

It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members.

Or Sign In Below:

No Author Biography has been linked to this Article.

Related Articles

December 13, 2020
By Margaret A. Burks, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) Chapter 13 works. Some people wish to continually criticize Chapter 13. They criticize the success rate. They criticize racial bias. They criticize how Chapter 13 works. They also criticize the fact that Chapter 13 appears less voluntary than it was before access to Chapter 7...
June 21, 2020
By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Recordation of divorce judgment created secured claim. In Chapter 13 case, the debtor objected to former spouse’s secured claim, with pre-bankruptcy divorce judgment awarding former marital home to the husband but ordering equalization payments to the wife. No security was mentioned in the judgment, but its recordation created a lien under Wisconsin law....
Members
May 3, 2020
By Hon. Brian Lynch, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Western District of Washington, Tacoma Division When the Supreme Court issued United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa1 on March 23, 2010, commentators were perplexed.2 On the one hand, the Court upheld the 9th Circuit’s ruling allowing a hardship discharge of student loans in a chapter 13 plan. The Court held that...
Members
April 7, 2019
By Lawrence R. Ahern III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction On March 20, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP1 that actions required by state law in a nonjudicial foreclosure are not regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).2 The decision resolved a split in the circuits. In addition to the...
Members
September 22, 2019
By Jan Hamilton, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Topeka, KS) I. The Plan1 A. Notions to Consider before the Plan is Filed… Time for Filing of the Plan. No later than 90 days after the filing of the case, the debtor is required to file a plan, unless the court extends the time if the “need is attributable to circumstances for...
Members
February 23, 2020
By Lawrence R. Ahern, III, Brown & Ahern (Nashville, TN) Introduction This series has focused on the four bankruptcy-related bills that were enacted during the 116th Congress and signed into law on August 23, 2019. One bill, the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (SBRA), became effective February 19, 2020. It appears in its entirety in Appendix B to this...
Members
February 7, 2021
By Ken Siomos, Staff Attorney for Marsha L. Combs-Skinner (Newman, IL) The December 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, more commonly known as the second covid-19 stimulus bill, contains a few bankruptcy related provisions, but none stood out more with respect to Chapter 13 than the newly created § 1328(i). This provision provides that a court may grant a full 1328(a)...
Members
April 28, 2019
By Leo G. Spanos, Senior Staff Attorney to Martha G. Bronitsky, Chapter 13 Trustee, Northern District of California (Oakland Division) 1. Background & Purpose of Means Test One of the most significant changes introduced BAPCPA is the requirement of a means test to determine whether a debtor qualifies for Chapter 7 relief or, if not, how much a debtor must...
Members
Copy of Hildebrand-2016
August 14, 2022
Where a stipulation of a settlement of an objection to confirmation provided that a creditor’s claim would be “excepted from discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6)”, the stipulation would not prevent the discharge of the claim based upon a breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference with business relations, unfair competition, defamation, and conversion which resulted in a state jury...
Members
February 24, 2019
By Cathy Moran, Esq. (Redwood City, CA) We all get sucked in, at some time, to try and rescue a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case gone bad. Make sure that you don’t let a bad situation get worse. Get your arms around §109(g). When only a do-over will do, don’t wait around. No Payments for Months The debtor came to me...
Members