Bankruptcy Reform Bill highlights/USA means test levels below - but

[papau]

does anyone have a link to the median income per household size by State tables? below are the USA averages from Table H11 - but I could not find the by State version.


The centerpiece of the legislation is a provision that would limit access to Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code, which allows people to sharply reduce their debt payments and get a fresh start. The bill would instead impose a means test that would prompt many people to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 13, which requires a repayment plan. The means test would not be applied to debtors who earn less than the median income in their state. Those who earn more than that and can pay at least $6,000 over five years would have to seek protection under Chapter 13. So one must check the median income for the size of household you have in your State-For example: Vermont and the USA average - http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/50000.html

Per capita money income, 1999 $20,625 $21,587
Median household income, 1999 Vermont $40,856 USA$41,994
Persons per household, 2000 2.44 2.59

Below are highlights of Bill - and table H11 median income by size of Household - but I do not have it by State and would appreciate a link to the state tables.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Spells out what is a reasonable amount to pay for food, clothing, transportation and housing, and requires the debtor to live within those guidelines unless there is a good reason not to;

• Makes it harder to shield assets by moving to Texas or Florida (or another state with a high homestead exemption) and buying an expensive house;

• Forces the debtor to pay the full cost of an auto loan or lose the vehicle to repossession, even if the vehicle isn't worth the outstanding balance on the loan;

• Requires debtors to complete courses in personal financial management before their debts are discharged in bankruptcy;

• Raises the priority of child-support and alimony payments;

• Places a $1 million cap on the amount in Roth and regular Individual Retirement Accounts that can be shielded from creditors;

• Protects money that has been put in education IRAs;

• Requires debtors to pay all charges made to credit cards in the three months before filing for bankruptcy;

• Makes it easier for landlords to evict bankrupt tenants who are behind on their rent;

• Lets creditors ask the court to dissolve the bankruptcy plan if a debtor is late in filing paperwork, such as copies of paycheck stubs and tax returns;

• Requires bank regulators to study whether credit card companies are offering credit indiscriminately, without regard to whether consumers can repay their debt, and whether the resulting debt is contributing to bankruptcies;

• Requires credit card issuers to disclose how long it will take to pay off a balance if you pay just the minimum every month, and prohibits the issuer from closing your account just because you pay off the balance every month and don't pay interest.

• Instructs the Federal Reserve to find out whether people are going bankrupt because of credit card debt amassed in college.

Under the proposed law, if you earn more than half of other families of the same size, and you declare bankruptcy, the court is required to assume that you are cheating. It's called a "presumption of abuse." If you can't prove that you're not abusing the bankruptcy system, you'll have to find a way to pay your debts. It's like being presumed guilty until proven innocent.

H.R. 2415 is "the highest median income of the applicable state for a family of the same number or fewer individuals last reported by the Bureau of the Census." No additional allowance is provided for families with more than four persons, and for one-person households, the standard is the median family income of the applicable state for one earner. Since the Bureau of the Census does not currently publish such data, we used other published data to estimate the applicable state medians. The median family income for each state (from Census Income Table D) was divided by the national average to obtain a state multiplier. (These ranged from a low of 0.7041 in West Virginia to a high of 1.2825 in Maryland.) For each state and family size, this figure was multiplied by the national median income for that family size (from Census Table H.11).

Table H-11. Size of Household--Households (All Races)
by Median and Mean Income: 2001

(Households as of March of the following year. Income in
current and 2001 CPI-U-RS adjusted dollars28/)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Median income Mean income Average
Size of --------------------------------------- house-
household Number Current 2001 Current 2001 hold
and year (thous.) dollars dollars dollars dollars size
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Households

2001 109,297 $42,228 $42,228 $58,208 $58,208 2.58

Households with One Person

2001 28,775 $21,761 $21,761 $31,724 $31,724 (X)
--------------
Households with Two People

2001 36,240 $45,245 $45,245 $60,689 $60,689 (X)
----------------------------------------------------------
Households with Three People

2001 17,742 $54,481 $54,481 $68,221 $68,221 (X)
----------------------------------------------------
Households with Four People

2001 15,794 $62,595 $62,595 $78,353 $78,353 (X)
-------------------------------------------------------
Households with Five People

2001 6,948 $59,898 $59,898 $75,709 $75,709 (X)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Households with Six People

2001 2,438 $57,548 $57,548 $73,315 $73,315 (X)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Households with Seven or More People

2001 1,360 $54,560 $54,560 $71,388 $71,388 (X)

[Enquiringkitty]

1. I had a friend look at this and figure out what my chances of filing

bankruptcy would be if I were to need it in the future and the result was....after all of the allowances and putting my income into the equasion...I would have to have an average income of $100 a week to be able to file bankruptcy. My house is paid for so it is total payment toward debts....no home anymore...my car is to old so I can sleep in it. I am no longer married so my wedding ring would go on the auction block too...plus my mother's wedding ring my dad gave me after she died.

These people are evil. Imagine all of this happening to you not from credit cards but from the death of the major wage earner and you are left to fend for yourself with your minimum wage job or the part time job you've had for years due to the debts that were existing before the death and the medical bills and funeral bills after the death.

I was advised not to get married again and my friend was told to divorce so the property could be divided now and wouldn't be lost in case one of them should die and leave bills.

Sad state of affairs!

[tccoyle]

4. A paid off home

is a killer in bankruptcy. Only in Florida and Texas is it a good thing. It doesn't matter what your income is when you have a free and clear home..if your state does not offer a big enough exemption, ANY bankruptcy would cost you your home.

[tccoyle]

2. Median Income

We have a page on our site with the numbers state by state for 4 person family - and the % for other size families. The numbers come from the federal register and were published about a month ago.

Tracy
http://www.cazelaw.com/newlaw.htm
http://www.cazelaw.com/medianincome.htm

[papau]

3. Thanks - I missed that publication! :-) - and I like your site!

:-)

[tccoyle]

5. The website

has been very good to us....it is different enough to get exactly the type of clients we like - those that are otherwise too scared or embarrassed to talk to an attorney when they really need to...

Done in house by the way...I know, it shows.

[tccoyle]

6. Median income v IRS Guidelines

I would have sent this private....getting to sound too much like a promotion:

When we looked at the median income and then actually added up the IRS Guidelines, there was something strange....sometimes, the median income is WAY above the IRS Guidelines. We think that in those situations, the creditors (a new provision in the bill) will object as will the trustees that such a filing - although income below the median - would be an abuse and some of the case law on substantial abuse would seem to agree.

Anyway, you were interested in the median income issue so I thought you might like to see this.

http://www.cazelaw.com/income_v_expense.htm

[Kweli4Real]

7. I am so frustrated by our elected officials ...

But I am more frustrated with We, The People. We elect our officials to act on our behalf, and when they don't, we don't require (or even ask) that they explain or justify their votes.

I need a concise (factual) summation/analysis detailing the harm this Bill will cause the middle class and how it will benefit/not effect the rich.

My plan is to e-mail my elected officials with the analysis and ask my Senators to spell out how they came to support the Bill (they both did). I'll then e-mail my Representative in the House with the analysis and ask them to discuss their thoughts on how they will vote on the Bill.

I will end each e-mail with the statement , "Please note, I believe in a voter's right to know how our elected representatives arrive at their positions/votes. However, since our elected officials rarely provide us with more than scripted sound-bites and in the interest of voter education, I will submit your response or lack of response to the Tucson Citizen, the Tucson Daily Star, the Tucson Weekly for publication. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Signed Faithful Voter since 1979."

[Fire]

8. I don't see how you commies could oppose this

I mean come on! the credit industry's $40 billion profir margin must be protected! Consumers and rural constituents be damned!