Skip to main content

Search

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: Annotations to Completed Sample Form 107

1. The statement of financial affairs (Official Form 107) is required to be completed by all individual debtors. 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1)(B)(iii); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007(b)(1). The form contains detailed questions that must be answered, but it is relatively simple to fill out. It is important to pay careful attention to the specific time period requested, as some questions ask for information about several different time periods. Most of the questions include a box labeled “no” which should be checked if that is the appropriate response to the given question.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: Official Form 107 Instructions

Statement of Financial Affairs for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy (Official Form 107)

Your Statement of Financial Affairs for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy, provides a summary of your financial history over certain periods of time before you file for bankruptcy. If you are an individual in a bankruptcy case, you must fill out this statement. 11 U.S.C. § 521(a) and Bankruptcy Rule 1007(b)(1).

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Form

To receive a discharge in a chapter 7 or chapter 13 case, the debtor or the course provider must submit proof of completion of an instructional course concerning financial management. If the course provider does not submit a certification the course has been completed, the Bankruptcy Rules provide that the certification of course completion must be submitted by the debtor, using Official Form 423 (formerly Form 23). See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007(c).

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2015 Advisory Committee Note on Form 423

Official Form 423, Certification About a Financial Management Course, is revised as part of the Forms Modernization Project. The form replaces former Official Form 23, Debtor’s Certification of Completion of Postpetition Instructional Course Concerning Personal Financial Management. Form 423 is renumbered to distinguish it from the forms used by non-individual debtors, such as corporations and partnerships.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: B. Calculation of CMI

Although Chapters 7, 11, and 13 use CMI for different purposes, the basic computation is the same in each. As defined in § 101(10A), CMI is the monthly average of certain income that the debtor (and in a joint case, the debtor’s spouse) received in the six calendar months before the bankruptcy filing.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: C. The means test deductions from current monthly income

The means test operates by deducting from CMI defined allowances for living expenses and payment of secured and priority debt, leaving disposable income presumptively available to pay unsecured non-priority debt. These deductions from CMI are set out in the Code at § 707(b)(2)(A)(ii)–(iv). The forms for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 have similar sections (Parts V and IV, respectively) for calculating these deductions. The calculations are divided into subparts reflecting three different kinds of allowed deductions.

1. Deductions under IRS standards

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Form

In every case a disclosure of fees paid to the debtor’s attorney must be filed. 11 U.S.C. § 329; Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2016(b). Director’s Form B2030, though not an Official Form, has been promulgated by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to fulfill this requirement. The purpose of this form is to allow the court and the United States trustee, who also must receive a copy, to monitor fees and to make sure they are reasonable.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Forms

This form was formerly Form 9 but has been renumbered as 309. The form will generally be prepared by the clerk of the bankruptcy court. It facilitates the process of notifying creditors of the filing of the petition, the meeting of creditors, and certain deadlines in the case. This form also provides notice of the claims filing period provided to “a governmental unit.” This Appendix only reprints the versions of Form 309 applicable to most consumer cases. All of the versions of Form 309, including the following forms not reprinted above:

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2020-02 Advisory Committee Note on Form 309

Official Forms 309E2 and 309F2 are new. They are promulgated in response to the enactment of the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, Pub. L. No. 116-54, 133 Stat. 1079. That law gives a small business debtor the option of electing to be a debtor under subchapter V of chapter 11. Because a trustee is always appointed in a subchapter V case, both forms require the name and contact information of the trustee to be provided. Previously existing Official Forms 309E and 309F have been renumbered 309E1 and 309F1, respectively. Other changes are stylistic.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: Official Form 318 Instructions

DISCHARGE OF THE DEBTOR—CHAPTER 7

General Information

The discharge is a court order that grants a discharge of debts to the person named as the debtor. Official Form 318 covers only an individual or joint debtor(s) in a chapter 7 case. There are other procedural forms issued by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts for use in cases filed in chapter 12 and chapter 13 cases.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2015 Advisory Committee Note on Form 318

Official Form 318, Order of Discharge, is revised and renumbered as part of the Forms Modernization Project. The form is used to issue a discharge in chapter 7 cases filed by individuals or joint debtors. It replaces former Official Form 18, Discharge of Debtor, Director’s Procedural Form 18J, Discharge of Joint Debtors, and Director’s Procedural Form 18JO, Discharge of One Joint Debtor.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: Official Form 410A Instructions

Official Form 410A Instructions for Mortgage Proof of Claim Attachment

Introduction

This form is used only in individual debtor cases. When required to be filed, it must be attached to Proof of Claim (Official Form B410) with other documentation required under the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.

Applicable Law and Rules

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Form

Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1(b) requires a mortgage creditor to “file and serve on the debtor, debtor’s counsel, and the trustee a notice of any change in the payment amount, including any change that results from an interest rate or escrow account adjustment, no later than 21 days before a payment in the new amount is due.” The notice must be given using this Official Form 410S1, Notice of Mortgage Payment Change (formerly Form 10 (Supplement 1)).