In re Early

523 B.R. 804, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 5165, 2014 WL 7399209
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedDecember 29, 2014
DocketNo. 14-30785
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 523 B.R. 804 (In re Early) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Early, 523 B.R. 804, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 5165, 2014 WL 7399209 (Ill. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

LAURA K. GRANDY, Bankruptcy Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the Chapter 13 Trustee’s objection to confirmation of debtor Lisa Ann Early’s plan. The Trustee’s objection is based on 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b).1 The Trustee objects that the debtor is. not paying all of her projected disposable income to unsecured creditors under the proposed plan. For the reasons stated below, the Trustee’s objection is sustained.

Facts

The relevant facts of the case are not in dispute. The debtor filed for relief under Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The debtor’s income exceeds the median family income of a household of the same size in the State of Illinois. Along with the required bankruptcy schedules, the debtor included with her petition for relief a completed Chapter IS Statement of Current Monthly Income and. Calculation of Commitment Period and Disposable Income (Form B22C, or B22C).

The debtor’s actual expenses2 exceed her allowed deductions pursuant to §§ 1325(b)(3) and 707(b)(2)(A) and (B). [806]*806Her Schedules I and J list a monthly net income of $158.22; however, her monthly disposable income, as indicated on line 59 of Form B22C, is $815.53. The debtor proposes to make monthly payments of $158 to unsecured creditors during the length of her 60-month plan.

The Trustee objects to the debtor’s proposed monthly payments, arguing that by proposing to pay less than her disposable income into the plan for the benefit of her unsecured creditors the debtor’s plan is in violation of § 1325(b). He contends that the debtor is required to propose monthly payments of $815.53, amounting to a total pool for unsecured creditors of $48,931.80. In response, the debtor argues that, under the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Hamilton v. Lanning, 560 U.S. 505, 130 S.Ct. 2464, 177 L.Ed.2d 23 (2010), debtors may deviate from Form B22C in calculating projected disposable income if their actual expenses are greater than their allowed expenses.

Issue

The question this case presents is whether, when determining projected disposable income, courts may confirm an above-median debtor’s plan that deviates from Form B22C simply because the debt- or’s actual expenses exceed her allowed deductions.

Discussion

A. Legal Framework

To answer the question presented, the Court must examine the term “projected disposable income” as contained in § 1325(b) of the Bankruptcy Code and interpreted by the Supreme Court’s banning decision. Every “interpretation of the Bankruptcy- Code starts “where all such inquiries must begin: with the language of the statute itself.’ ” Ransom v. FIA Card Services, 562 U.S. 61, 131 S.Ct. 716, 723-24, 178 L.Ed.2d 603 (2011) (quoting United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241, 109 S.Ct. 1026 103 L.Ed.2d 290 (1989)). Section 1325(b)(1)(B) of the Bankruptcy Code states:

If the trustee or the holder of an allowed unsecured claim, objects to the confirma[807]*807tion of the plan, then the court may not approve the plan unless, as of the effective date of the plan ... the plan provides that all of the debtor’s projected disposable income to be received in the applicable commitment period beginning on the date that the first payment is due under the plan will be applied to make payments to unsecured creditors under the plan.

11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(1)(B) (emphasis added). Before Congress enacted the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), Pub.L. No. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23, “disposable income” was defined by § 1325(b)(2) as “income received by the debtor and which [was] not reasonably necessary to be expended for the maintenance or support of the debtor or a dependent of the debt- or....” 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(2) (2004).3 “Projected disposable income,” undefined by the Code, was determined by subtracting the debtor’s reasonable monthly expenses as reported on Schedule J from the debtor’s monthly income as reported on Schedule I. Determining which expenses were “reasonably necessary” compelled courts “to make significant value judgments, leading to a wide diversity of rulings on whether particular circumstances were justifiable.” In re Slusher, 359 B.R. 290, 294 (Bankr.D.Nev.2007).

BAPCPA significantly altered § 1325(b). “Disposable income” is now defined as “current monthly income received by the debtor ... less amounts reasonably necessary to be expended.” 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(2). The term “current monthly income” means the debtor’s average monthly income received during the six months prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition. Id. § 101(10A)(A)(i). Above-median debtors calculate their “amounts reasonably necessary to be expended” pursuant to the means test contained in § 707(b)(2)(A) and (B). Id. § 1325(b)(3). Section 707(b)(2)(A)(ii)(I) states:

The debtor’s monthly expenses shall be the debtor’s applicable monthly expense amounts specified under the National Standards and Local Standards, and the debtor’s actual monthly expenses for the categories specified as Other Necessary Expenses issued by the Internal Revenue Service [(IRS)] for the area in which the debtor resides....

Id. § 707(b)(2)(A)(ii)(I).4 “Projected disposable income” remains undefined.

The means test is embodied in Official Form B22C. Form B22C was prescribed by the Judicial Conference of the United States to assist Chapter 13 debtors calculate their disposable income.5 The form contains an income component and an expense component. In the income component, the debtor is required to calculate current monthly income. In the expense component, the debtor is permitted to deduct expenses based on the IRS Standards and categories referenced in [808]*808§ 707(b)(2)(A)(ii)(I). Part V of the form instructs the debtor to subtract the total amount of expenses and allowed deductions (as indicated on line 58) from current monthly income (as indicated on line 53). The result is identified on line 59 as “Monthly Disposable Income Under § 1325(b)(2).”

The means test “supplants the pre-BAPCPA practice of calculating debtors’ reasonable expenses on a case-by-case basis, which led to varying and often inconsistent determinations.” Ransom, 131 S.Ct. at 722. But, while the means test’s mechanical nature limits judicial discretion, courts immediately post-BAPCPA disagreed as to the meaning of “projected disposable income,” still undefined by the Code. See 8 Collier on Bankruptcy 1M325.11[4][a] (16th ed. 2014).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
523 B.R. 804, 2014 Bankr. LEXIS 5165, 2014 WL 7399209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-early-ilsb-2014.