Updates
Here are summaries of important legal or procedural changes that affect the latest edition of this product.
If you want to check on the accuracy of any other information in the book, please follow the legal research
instructions in the book or in Nolo's research manual, Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law.
Federal Nonbankruptcy Exemptions -- Misprint in How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Effective date:
Apr. 8, 2008
Appendix 1 of How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy lists the bankruptcy exemptions for every state, as well as the federal bankruptcy exemptions. However, the federal nonbankruptcy exemptions were omitted due to a misprint.
Exemptions determine how much of your property you can keep if you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If you rely on your state's bankruptcy exemptions, you can also use the federal nonbankruptcy exemptions, which protect a portion of wages as well as a variety of retirement and survivor's benefits. The correct federal nonbankruptcy exemptions are:
Death & Disability Benefits
-
Government employees (5 U.S.C. § 8130)
-
Longshoremen & harbor workers (33 U.S.C. § 916)
-
War risk, hazard, death, or injury compensation (42 U.S.C. § 1717)
Retirement
-
Civil service employees (5 U.S.C. § 8346)
-
Foreign service employees (22 U.S.C. § 4060)
-
Military Medal of Honor roll pensions (38 U.S.C. § 1562(c))
-
Military service employees (10 U.S.C. § 1440)
-
Railroad workers (45 U.S.C. § 231m)
-
Social Security (42 U.S.C. § 407)
-
Veterans' benefits (38 U.S.C. § 5301)
Survivor's Benefits
-
Judges, U.S. court & judicial center directors, administrative assistants to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice (28 U.S.C. § 376)
-
Lighthouse workers (33 U.S.C. § 775)
-
Military service (10 U.S.C. § 1450)
Miscellaneous
-
Indian lands or homestead sales or lease proceeds (25 U.S.C. § 410)
-
Klamath Indian tribe benefits for Indians residing in Oregon (25 U.S.C. §§ 543, 545)
-
Military deposits in savings accounts while on permanent duty outside U.S. (10 U.S.C. § 1035)
-
Military group life insurance (38 U.S.C. § 1970(g))
-
Railroad workers' unemployment insurance (45 U.S.C. § 352(e))
-
Seamen's clothing (46 U.S.C. § 11110)
-
Seamen's wages (while on a voyage) pursuant to a written contract (46 U.S.C. § 11109)
-
Minimum 75% of disposable weekly earnings or 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is more; bankruptcy judge may authorize more for low-income debtors (15 U.S.C. § 1673)
We apologize for the error.
Back to Top
Median Family Income Amounts Have Changed
Effective date:
Mar. 18, 2008
On March 17, 2008, the Census Bureau released new median family income figures for each state. If you're filing for bankruptcy, these are the numbers you must compare to your average income in the six months before you file to determine whether you have to take the means test and how long your repayment plan will have to last if you use Chapter 13 bankruptcy, among other things.
You can find the new numbers here, on the website of the United States Trustee program (at http://www.usdoj.gov/ust).
Back to Top
Fillable Bankruptcy Forms Now Available Online
Effective date:
Feb. 1, 2008
The official bankruptcy forms are now available online in fillable form. This means you can complete the forms on your computer even if you don't have software that allows you to edit PDF forms.
You can find the free forms in the bankruptcy section of the U.S. Courts website, at www.uscourts.gov.
You can't save your work in these forms, however. One way around this problem is to use the Foxit PDF reader, which you can download free from www.foxitsoftware.com.
Back to Top
Missing Page of Exhibit D to the Voluntary Petition
Effective date:
Oct. 12, 2007
The 14th edition of How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy includes a number of blank bankruptcy forms, in Appendix 3. Unfortunately, one of those forms is missing a page. We inadvertently included only the first page of Official Form 1, Exhibit D: Individual Debtor's Statement of Compliance with Credit Counseling Requirement. You can get the complete form from the federal bankruptcy court's website at www.uscourts.gov/rules/BK_Forms_06_Official/Form_1_Exh_D_1006.pdf.
We apologize for the error.
Back to Top
Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions and Other Dollar Amounts Are Changing
Effective date:
Apr. 1, 2007
On April 1, 2007, the bankruptcy figures used by the federal government will be adjusted for inflation. This means not only that the federal bankruptcy exemptions -- which determine how much property you get to keep if you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy -- will increase, but also that the other dollar amounts appearing in the federal bankruptcy law will change.
Here are a few of the changes:
- Debt limits for using Chapter 13 will increase: Filers may now have up to $1,010,650 in secured debt and up to $336,900 in unsecured debt. (The previous limits were $922,975 and $307,675, respectively.) (For more information, see "Are You Eligible for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?")
- The federal homestead exemption will increase from $18,450 to $20,200.
- The federal exemption for vehicles will increase from $2,950 to $3,225.
- The limits used in the "means test" to determine eligibility to use Chapter 7 will increase: Filers who have less than $6,575 in disposable income will now pass the means test (the previous threshold was $6,000), and those who have more than $10,950 (previously 10,000) in disposable income will not be able to use Chapter 7. (For more on the means test, see "The Means Test: Is Your Income Low Enough for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?")
Other amounts have changed as well. To see the complete list, see this page of the Federal Register, which can be found on the website of the Government Printing Office.
Back to Top
Official Bankruptcy Forms Keep Changing
Effective date:
Apr. 1, 2007
In the past year, the official bankruptcy forms have been amended several times. On April 1, 2007, changes to the federal bankruptcy exemption amounts and other dollar figures included in the federal bankruptcy law were adjusted for inflation. Because of these changes, a handful of the official bankruptcy forms were amended as well.
Some of the forms were amended again effective December 1, 2007, and once again for good measure on January 1, 2008.
To find the new forms, visit the U.S. Courts website at www.uscourts.gov.
The changes in almost all of these forms are minor, and the step-by-step instructions in Nolo's bankruptcy books are still accurate. More extensive changes were made to Form B22A and Form B22C, the two means test forms. If you need help completing these forms, you may need to use the free online means test and other materials available at www.legalconsumer.com.
Back to Top
|
