In re Sturm

483 B.R. 312, 2012 WL 4344605, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 4383
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 21, 2012
DocketNo. 10-34829
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 483 B.R. 312 (In re Sturm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Sturm, 483 B.R. 312, 2012 WL 4344605, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 4383 (Ohio 2012).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

RICHARD L. SPEER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on Remand from the District Court in the case Captioned: Shannon Sturm v. United States Trustee, Case No. 11-CV-199, Judge Zack Zouhary. On remand, the District Court set forth that this Court shall reconsider two matters pertaining to this Court’s prior decision in which, on a Motion brought by the United States Trustee, it was determined that, under the ‘means test’ calculation of § 707(b)(2), a presumption of abuse arose. (Doc. No. 20). Consistent with this directive, the Court thereafter afforded the Parties the opportunity to submit arguments and evidence in support of their respective positions on the matters remanded to the Court. (Doc. No. 45). The Parties have since filed their arguments and evidentiary materials which this Court has now had the opportunity to review. Based upon this review, and for the reasons set forth herein, the Court finds that the Motion of the United States to Dismiss under § 707(b)(2) should be Granted.

BACKGROUND

On My 15, 2010, the Debtor, Shannon Q. Sturm, filed a petition in this Court for [314]*314relief under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. (Doc. No. 1). At the time she filed her petition for bankruptcy relief, the Debtor was married, and had no dependents. The Debtor’s husband did not join with Mrs. Sturm in seeking bankruptcy relief.

At the time she filed her petition, the Debtor, as required by the Bankruptcy Rules, submitted an Official Form B22A, entitled “Chapter 7 Statement of Current Monthly Income and Means-Test Calculation.” This form implements the requirement of § 707(b)(2)(C), requiring a debtor to perform the ‘means test’ calculation of § 707(b)(2) so as to determine if granting relief in the case should be presumed to be an abuse.

In completing Form B22A, the Debtor represented that she was an Ohio resident and had a gross monthly income of $3,861.93; the Debtor also reported that her non-debtor husband had a gross monthly income of $3,473.00. Based upon these figures, the Debtor reported a combined gross annual income of $88,019.16, an amount which exceeded the state median income for a like-size household.

Only debtors with household income above the state median income are subject to having their case dismissed based upon a presumption of abuse arising under § 707(b)(2). 11 U.S.C. § 707(b)(7). Moreover, a case will only be found to be presumptively abusive if the debtor’s disposable income, as calculated over a five-year period, satisfies one of these two conditions: (1) the debtor’s disposable income is greater than $11,725.00; or (2) although less than $11,725.00, the debtor’s disposable income is greater than or equal to $7,025.00 or 25 percent of the debtor’s nonpriority unsecured debts, whichever is greater.1 On a per month basis, the abuse threshold of $11,725.00, represents $195.42, while the abuse threshold of $7,025.00 represents $117.08.

In applying the ‘means test,’ a debtor’s disposable income is calculated by subtracting those expenses allowed by clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv) of § 707(b)(2)(A) from the debtor’s current monthly income. The term current monthly income is defined in § 101(10A), and generally means “the average monthly income from all sources that the debtor receives” during the six-month period preceding the commencement of the case. A debtor whose ‘current monthly income’ falls above the state-median income is required to itemize their expenses by completing form B22A. Because the combined gross income of her and her husband exceeded the state median income, the Debtor completed Form B22A.

In completing Form B22A, the Debtor reported that no presumption of abuse arose in her case for purposes of § 707(b)(2). The Debtor based this conclusion on the ‘means test’ formula yielding a deficit in her current monthly income of $888.18 per month. In arriving at this figure, the Debtor took a number of deductions, including: (1) a monthly of expense of $210.00 for the operation of a second motor vehicle; (2) a $496.00 monthly expense, representing the ownership/lease expense of a second vehicle; and (3) a $761.00 mortgage/rent expense. As the basis for these deductions, the Debtor relied on clause (ii) of § 707(b)(2)(A) which, among other expenses allows a debtor to deduct from their ‘current monthly income’ the “debtor’s applicable monthly expense amounts specified under the National [315]*315Standards and Local Standards ... issued by the Internal Revenue Service for the area in which the resides.... ”

The Debtor also deducted from her income the sum of $3,473.00, representing the entire monthly income of her husband. For this deduction, the Debtor relied on § 101(10A)(B) which addresses the type of situation encountered by the Debtor where only one spouse seeks bankruptcy relief. In so doing, the definition of ‘current monthly income,’ as used in the ‘means test’ calculation of § 707(b)(2), is limited to only the “amount paid by any entity other than the debtor ... on a regular basis for the household expenses of the debtor or the debtor’s dependents.... ” In other words, income that a non-debtor spouse utilizes for their own personal obligations, and thus is not contributed to the debtor’s household, is not included in a debtor’s ‘current monthly income.’ On Form B22A, this exclusion from a debtor’s ‘current monthly income’ is referred to as the ‘marital adjustment.’

On September 27, 2010, the United States Trustee (hereinafter the “UST”) filed a Motion to Dismiss the Debtor’s case. (Doc. No. 12). In its Motion, the UST disputed the Debtor’s determination that no presumption of abuse arose in her case for purposes of 707(b)(2).2 The UST reached this conclusion after conducting its own ‘means test’ calculation which showed that the Debtor had a monthly disposable income of $1,455.28, well above the abuse thresholds, supra, set forth in § 707(b)(2). (Doc. No. 19, Ex. F-8).

An evidentiary hearing was then held on the Motion of the UST to Dismiss. At the conclusion of the Hearing, the Court deferred ruling on the matters raised by the Parties so as to afford the opportunity to further consider the positions taken by the Parties. (Doc. No. 18). On January 7, 2011, the Court entered its decision on the matter, holding that, for purposes of the ‘means test’ of § 707(b)(2), a presumption of abuse arose in the Debtor’s case. (Doc. No. 20). The Debtor then filed an appeal of this Court’s determination. (Doc. No. 21).

POSITION OF THE PARTIES

In seeking to have the Debtor’s case dismissed for abuse under the ‘means test’ formulation of § 707(b)(2), the UST challenged a number of downward adjustments made by the Debtor to her ‘current monthly income.’ First, the UST objected to the Debtor’s allocation of expenses for the ownership and operation of a second motor vehicle, taking the position that the Debtor should only be allowed to deduct from her income the expenses associated with a single vehicle. The UST also challenged two of the itemized expenses claimed by the Debtor as a marital adjustment: (1) a $1,300.00 per month expense, representing payments on her husband’s credit cards; and (2) a $1,250.00 per month deduction for housing, representing the mortgage payment encumbering the property in which the Debtor resides, but for which only the Debtor’s husband has any personal liability.

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In re Jackson
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
483 B.R. 312, 2012 WL 4344605, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 4383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sturm-ohnb-2012.