REGULAR INCOME REQUIREMENT
Tenney v. Terry,
630 F.2d 634 (8th Cir. 1980).
11 U.S.C. § 109(e) and 11
U.S.C. § 101(29) contemplate some payments to creditors;
debtor's income must exceed expenses and where debtor fails to
prove funds in excess of living expenses, debtor is not
eligible for chapter 13.
DEBT LIMITATIONS
Miller v. United States,
907 F.2d 80 (8th Cir. 1998)
The appellate court held
that in considering debtor eligibility for chapter 13 pursuant
to 11 U.S.C. § 109(e), the unsecured portion of an
undersecured claim should be computed as unsecured debt.
Barcal v. Laughlin (In Re
Barcal),
213 B.R. 1008 (B.A.P. 8th Cir. 1997) (Judge Scott)
(before Kressel, Schermer, and Scott) (3:0)
http://www.wulaw.wustl.edu/8th.cir/Opinions/971114/976050.P8
The appellate court held
that the bankruptcy court should include disputed claims in
considering a debtor's eligibility for chapter 13 relief, and
a debtor is not entitled to a full judicial determination of
the amount and validity of disputed claims where the debtor's
schedules and proofs of claim on file reveal that debts exceed
the eligibility limits of 11 U.S.C. § 109(e).
The tax obligation was not
contingent. "Contingent liabilities…are a class of
liabilities in which the obligation to pay does not arise
until the occurrence of a triggering event or occurrence…reasonably
calculated by the debtor and the creditor at the time the
event giving rise to the claim occurred." The tax
liabilities do not await a triggering event. The IRS'
assessment establishes the amount.
Also, the tax liabilities were
liquidated. "….We hold that the key factor in
distinguishing liquidated from unliquidated claims is not the
extent of the dispute nor the amount of evidence required to
establish the claim, but whether the process for determining
the claim is fixed, certain, or otherwise determined by a
specific standard….[T]ax liabilities were indeed readily
determinable and liquidated because at the time of filing, the
liabilities had already been fixed or established by the
Service's Certificates of Assessment. The assessment of a tax
liability is essentially a bookkeeping function….[T]he taxes
were determined or liquidated through the Service's process of
assessment."
Ficken v. United States,
2 F.3d 299 (8th Cir. 1993)
A bankruptcy court's orders
were final and appealable, even though the court did not enter
an order dismissing the debtors' chapter 13 petition. The
court's holding that the debtors were not entitled to chapter
13 relief because they had more than $100,000 in unsecured
debt effectively terminated the proceeding on the merits,
leaving only the ministerial action of dismissing the
petition.
In Re Koehler,
62 B.R. 70 (Bankr. D. Neb. 1986) Court determined eligibility
for chapter 13 based upon schedules. Where the debtor listed a
secured debgt of $173,000 and listed the value of the
collateral securing the debt as $57,000, the debtor was found
to be not eligible.
In Re Wulf,
62 B.R. 155 (Bankr. D. Neb. 1986). The document filed by an
ineligible debtor cannot constitute a petition and does not
cause the entry of an order for relief. Debt limitations in 11
U.S.C. § 109(e) are jurisdictional. Where debtor exceeded
debt limitations, chapter 13 petition did not commence a case;
and there is nothing to convert to Chapter 11. Reversed,
Rudd v. Laughlin, 866 F.2d 1040 (8th
Cir. 1989)
11 U.S.C. § 109(g)
MISCELLANEOUS
Bigalk v. Federal Land Bank,
813 F.2d 189 (8th Cir. 1987)
Chapter 13 petition presented
within 180 days of voluntary dismissal of prior chapter 13
petition should not have been accepted for filing.
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