In re Vilmarie Ortiz Arroyo

United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided November 9, 2015·No. 15-05634·Unknown

Opinion

° IN RE VILMARIE ORTIZ ARROYO CASE NO. 15- 05634 (ESL) Debtor CHAPTER 13

6 7 OPINION AND ORDER 8 9 This case is before the court upon the Chapter 13 Trustee’s (hereinafter referred to as the 10 ||“Trustee’”) Motion to Alter or Amend Order (Docket No, 16) (Docket No. 19) in which the 11 || Trustee argues that the court’s Order should be amended to deny the Debtor’s request for the 12 || reconsideration of the July 27, 2015 Order (Docket No. 12) because Debtor’s application failed 13 comply with 28 U.S.C. §1930 and Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1006(b) since the same had the 14 || following deficiencies: (1) it was not signed; (ii) it was not prepared as prescribed by the Official 15 || Form B 3A; and (iii) the Debtor’s request to pay in installments the filing fee was not supported 16 |)by her income and expenses in Schedules I and J. The Debtor filed an amended Motion 17 || Opposing Trustee’s Request to Set Aside (Docket No. 27). For the reasons stated below the 18 || Trustee’s Motion to Alter or Amend Order is hereby denied. 19 50 Jurisdiction

The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §$ 1334(b) and 157(a). This is a cor

3 proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §$157(b)(1) and (b)(2). Venue of this proceeding is prope 33 under 28 U.S.C. §8§1408 and 1409.

5 Facts and Procedural Background 35 The Debtor filed the instant bankruptcy petition under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy 36 Code on July 24, 2015. On July 24, 2015, the Debtor filed her proposed plan in which she

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1 || indicated that the $310 filing fee would be paid through the plan as an administrative expense 2 |! and prior to any disbursement under this plan. The plan indicated that the filing fees would be 3 || paid by the Trustee to the Clerk of the Court (Docket No. 2). On July 24, 2015 the Debtor filed 4 |! Official Form B 3A which is the Application for Individuals to Pay the Filing Fee in > || Installments (Docket No. 8). The Debtor disclosed on the application that she proposed to pay 6 || the filing fee in the amount of $310.00 on or before 11/21/15 and that the same would be paid 7 |) through the plan by the Chapter 13 Trustee. The Debtor also disclosed that that she was paying 8 |! $0 with the filing of the petition. The application was signed by the Debtor and by her attorney 9 || utilizing the electronic signature method. The 341 meeting of creditors was scheduled and 10 closed on August 26, 2015 (Docket Nos. 9 & 29). On July 27, 2015, the court denied the 11 || Debtor’s motion requesting to provide payment of the filing fees in installments. The court 12 |! stated that the Debtor’s request failed to comply with P.R. LBR 1006-1 and Fed. R. Bankr. P. 13 || 1006-1(b) (Docket No. 12). 14 On July 27, 2015, the Debtor filed a Motion to Reconsider & Set Aside Denial of 15 || Payment of Filing Fees in Installments arguing that: (i) the $50 required to be paid at the time 16 |! of the petition by P.R. LBR 1006-1(a) appears to require more than what is required by Fed. R. 17 || Bankr. P. 1006 and appears to be in contravention with Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1006(b)(2); (ii) the 18 || Debtor requests to be allowed to pay the filing fee in installments or through the plan within 13 || 120 days from the filing or on or before 11/24/15; (iii) the Debtor’s proposed plan dated July 20 ||23, 2015 provides for the payment of the $310 filing fee by the Trustee as an administrative 21 |! expense before any payment to other parties under the proposed plan; and (iv) Debtor’s request 22 |! for payment in installments of the filing fee has been prepared as prescribed by the Official 23 which provides the alternative that the fee be paid through the plan in addition to the 24 |! option of paying the same “‘in up to four installments” (Docket No. 13). 25 On July 30, 2015, the court granted the Debtor’s motion for reconsideration (Docket 26 |! No. 13) and ordered as follows: 27 -2-

1 “t]he filing fees shall be paid in full within one hundred and twenty (120) days 5 from petition date, either by the Chapter 13 Trustee from available funds, or directly by the Debtor. Upon failure to comply, the court may dismiss the case 3 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. $1307(c)(2)” (Docket No. 16). On August 6, 2015, the Trustee filed a Motion to Alter or Amend Order (Docket No. ° 16) pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e), made applicable to bankruptcy proceedings through Fed. ° R. Bankr. P. 9023. The Trustee argues that the Debtor’s application to pay the filing fee in installments fails to comply with 28 U.S.C. $1930 and Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1006 based on the ° following: () “Official Form [No.] B 3A was modified to add an alternate way of repayment of ° the filing fee, not prescribed in the form. Debtor included the following statement in Part 1, Section 2, which is the section where the installment is described: ‘(x) or, balance to be paid through plan by Chapter 13 Trustee.’ The modified Official Form B 3A was not signed by the debtor, and she stated her inability to pay the full filing fee at once and her preference to pay the fee in installments;” and (11) the Debtor’s inability to pay the filing fee and thus request to pay the same in installments within 120 days from the petition date is not supported by her income and expenses. Debtor’s Schedule I evinces a net monthly income, after payroll ° deductions of $2,009.41. Schedule J discloses monthly expenses which total $1,884.00 of which $468.00 are discretionary expenses. These discretionary expenses ' do not support Debtor’s position that she is unable to pay the filing fee in one installment. The Trustee argues that the Debtor should be able to pay the filing fee within 30 days by making minor adjustments to her discretionary expenses. The Trustee further argues that the July 30, 2015 Order whereby it approved Debtor’s application is unclear due to the following: (4) it “fixed the number of payments to one, the amount of the payment to $310 and the date of the payment to on or before November 21, 2015 (date equal to 120 days from the petition date). Regarding 24 Whi Amongst the Debtor’s expenses, the discretionary expenses consist of: (i) $100 for telephone, cell phone, internet, 26 || Satellite and cable services; (ii) $100 for entertainment, clubs, recreation, newspapers, magazines, and books; (iii) $82 for clothing, laundry, and dry cleaning, (iv) $25 for charitable contributions and religious donations; and (v) 27 $100 for emerg/misc/savings (Docket No. 19).

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1 || who is responsible for the fixed payment, the Court incorporated the two alternative methods 2 |! of paying the filing fee in 120 days, as proposed in the ‘application,’ ‘either by the chapter 13 3 trustee from available funds or directly by the debtor;’” (ii) the approved “application” 4 || alternative plan provision implies that the installment payments will be paid through the plan > || because it references a Chapter 13 plan dated July 23, 2015 (Docket No. 2), which discloses 6 || that the filing fees of $310 will be paid by the Trustee to the Clerk of the Court as soon as 7 |! practicable as an administrative expense prior to any other distribution.

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In re Vilmarie Ortiz Arroyo, (prb 2015).

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