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Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Form

Official Form 103B (formerly Form 3B) is an application to waive the chapter 7 filing fee. The chapter 7 filing fee may be waived for debtors whose income is less than 150% of the federal poverty guidelines based upon family size, and who do not have an ability to pay the filing fee in installments based on the totality of the circumstances. See 28 U.S.C.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: Official Form 103B Instructions

Application to Have the Chapter 7 Filing Fee Waived (Official Form 103B)

The fee for filing a bankruptcy case under chapter 7 is $338. If you cannot afford to pay the entire fee now in full or in installments within 120 days, use this form. If you can afford to pay your filing fee in installments, see Application for Individuals to Pay the Filing Fee in Installments (Official Form 103A).

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: Schedule H

Schedule H is a list of codebtors, other than a spouse in a joint case, who are obligated on any of the debtor’s debts. For a general discussion of Schedule H, see § 7.3.7.5, supra. The completed schedule contains a note referring to the following annotations:

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: Schedule I

Schedule I is the debtor’s current income statement. For a general discussion of Schedule I, see § 7.3.7.6, supra. The average monthly income provided on this form will often differ from the current monthly income used in preparing Form 122A-1, 122B, or 122C-1. The completed schedule contains notes referring to the following annotations:

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2017 Advisory Committee Note on Form 113

Official Form 113 is new and is the required plan form in all chapter 13 cases, except to the extent that Rule 3015(c) permits the use of a Local Form. Except as permitted by Rule 9009, alterations to the Official Form are not permitted. As the form explains, spaces for responses may be expanded or collapsed as appropriate, and sections that are inapplicable do not need to be reproduced.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Forms

In a chapter 13 case, an individual debtor must file Form 122C-1, Chapter 13 Statement of Your Current Monthly Income and Calculation of Commitment Period (formerly Form 22C-1), that will indicate whether the debtor’s income is above the state median income. If the income is above median, then the debtor must also file Form 122C-2, Chapter 13 Calculation of Your Disposable Income (former Form 22C-2).

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Forms

The Advisory Committee note accompanying the 1997 adoption of these forms states: “These notices will be sent by the movant unless local rules provide for some other entity to give notice. . . . [T]he signature line will be adapted to identify the actual sender of the notice in each circumstance. All adaptations of the form should carry out the intent to give notice of applicable procedures in easily understood language.”

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2011 Advisory Committee Note on Forms 20A, 20B

The forms are amended to require that the title of the case include all names used by the debtor within the last eight years. This change conforms to the 2005 amendment of § 727(a)(8), which extended from six years to eight years the period during which a debtor is barred from receiving successive discharges. In conformity with Rule 9037, the filer is directed to provide only the last four digits of any individual debtor’s taxpayer-identification number.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2015 Advisory Committee Note on Form 107

Official Form 107, Statement of Financial Affairs for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy, which applies only in cases of individual debtors, is revised in its entirety as part of the Forms Modernization Project, making it easier to read and, as a result, likely to generate more complete and accurate responses. The goals of the Forms Modernization Project include improving the interface between technology and the forms so as to increase efficiency and reduce the need to produce the same information in multiple formats.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2012 Advisory Committee Note on Form 7

The definition of “insider” is amended to conform to the statutory definition of the term. See 11 U.S.C. § 101(31). Under the Code definition, ownership of 5% or more of the voting shares of a corporate debtor does not automatically make the owner an insider of the corporation. And in order to be an affiliate of the debtor and an insider on that basis, ownership or control of at least 20% of the outstanding voting securities of the debtor is required. 11 U.S.C. § 101(2). The phrase “any owner of 5% or more of the voting or equity securities” is therefore deleted.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: 2005–2007 Advisory Committee Note on Form 7

The form is amended in several ways to reflect changes in the Bankruptcy Code made by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23 (April 20, 2005). A new sentence in the introduction advises the debtor not to disclose the name and address of any minor child in conformity with § 112, which was added to the Code by the 2005 Act.

Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice: About the Form

This is another document required in chapter 7 cases (but not in chapter 13 cases). 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(2)(A). It states the intentions of the debtor, as of the date of its filing, with regard to any property, real or personal, that serves as collateral for a debt. This form also requires the debtor to state the debtor’s intentions with respect to leases of personal property.