makes so much more sense now.
http://bankruptcy.findlaw.com/new-bankruptcy-law/new-bankruptcy-law-basics/big-changes.htmlsome highlights:
Under the new rules, the first step in figuring out whether you can file for Chapter 7 is to measure your "current monthly income" against the median income for a family of your size in your state. Your "current monthly income" is not your income at the time you file, however: It is your average income over the last six months before you file. For many people, particularly those who are filing for bankruptcy because they recently lost a job, their "current monthly income" according to these rules will be much more than they take in each month by the time they file for bankruptcy.
Once you've calculated your income, compare it to the median income for your state. (You can find median income tables, by state and family size, at the website of the United States Trustee, www.usdoj.gov/ust; click "Means Testing Information.")
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To find out whether you pass the means test, you start with your "current monthly income," calculated as described above. From that amount, you subtract both of the following:
* Certain allowed expenses, in amounts set by the IRS. Generally, you cannot subtract what you actually spend for things like transportation, food, clothing, and so on; instead, you have to use the limits the IRS imposes, which may be lower than the cost of living in your area.
* Monthly payments you will have to make on secured and priority debts. Secured debts are those for which the creditor is entitled to seize property if you don't pay (such as a mortgage or car loan); priority debts are obligations that the law deems to be so important that they are entitled to jump to the head of the repayment line. Typical priority debts include child support, alimony, tax debts, and wages owed to employees.
If your total monthly disposable income after subtracting these amounts is less than $100, you pass the means test, and will be allowed to file for Chapter 7. If your total remaining monthly disposable income is more than $166.66, you have flunked the means test, and will be prohibited from using Chapter 7.
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Lawyers May Be Harder to Find -- and More Expensive
As you can see, the new law adds some complicated requirements to the field of bankruptcy. This is going to make it more expensive -- and time-consuming -- for lawyers to represent clients in bankruptcy cases, which means attorney fees are going to go up.
The new law also imposes some additional requirements on lawyers, chief among them that the lawyer must personally vouch for the accuracy of all of the information their clients provide them. This means attorneys will have to spend even more time on bankruptcy cases, and charge their clients accordingly. Some experts predict that this combination of new requirements may drive some bankruptcy lawyers out of the field altogether.
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Some Chapter 13 Filers Will Have to Live on Less
Under the old rules, people who filed under Chapter 13 had to devote all of their disposable income -- what they had left after paying their actual living expenses -- to their repayment plan. The new law adds a wrinkle to this equation: Although Chapter 13 filers still have to hand over all of their disposable income, they have to calculate their disposable income using allowed expense amounts dictated by the IRS -- not their actual expenses -- if their income is higher than the median in their state (see "Restricted Eligibility for Chapter 7," above). These expenses are often lower than actual costs.
What's worse, these allowed expense amounts must be subtracted not from the filer's actual earnings each month, but from the filer's average income during the six months before filing. This means that debtors may be required to pay a much larger amount of "disposable income" into their plan than they actually have to spare every month -- which, in turn, means that many more Chapter 13 plans will fail.
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Property Must Be Valued at Replacement Cost
Under the old law, Chapter 7 filers could value their property at what they could sell it for in a "fire sale" or auction. This meant that used furniture, hobby items, cars, heirlooms, and other property a debtor might want to keep were typically assumed to have little value -- and, therefore, that it often fell well within the "exempt property" categories offered by most states. (Exempt property is property that cannot be taken by creditors or the trustee -- you are entitled to keep it.)
Under the new law, you must value your property at what it would cost to replace it from a retail vendor, taking into account the property's age and condition. This requirement is sure to jack up the value of property, which means more debtors stand to have their property taken and sold by the trustee.
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