NC Bankruptcy Blog

The first meaning of feasibility is that of the "feasibility requirement" common to chapter 13 bankruptcy, chapter 11 bankruptcy, and chapter 12 bankruptcy. Simply put, the feasibility requirement is that debtor must demonstrate ability to do what is proposed in the plan, e.g. make the payments. The second meaning is disbursement feasibility: does the debtor propose to pay enough to the standing trustee that the standing trustee can then make all required disbursements to creditors.

For many, bankruptcy first comes to mind as solution utilized by a person recently unemployed. Indeed, many people do file bankruptcy after experiencing a job loss, and there are certainly many cases where bankruptcy debt relief can be very helpful when household income has declined. So why would someone file bankruptcy after income has increased?

The bankruptcy code at 11 USC 104 provides for the periodic adjustments of certain dollar figures in the bankruptcy code every 3 years to account for inflation. The next set of new figures will be effective April 1, 2013. Closer to that date, the courts will publish an official list of changes. However, the Consumer Price Index data needed for the adjustment is now available, so it is possible to predict what these adjustments will be.

The United States Trustee publishes official means testing numbers, which are used to complete the bankruptcy means test. The practice is for the United States Trustee to publish new means testing numbers twice annually, reflecting changes in the underlying data obtained from the census bureau and the internal revenue service. A few weeks lay between the publication of the new numbers and their effectiveness on new bankruptcy cases filed thereafter. For example, the UST published on October 12, 2012 a new set of numbers to be effective on November 1.