Automatic Adjustment of Certain Dollar Amounts in the Bankruptcy Code.

Automatic adjustments to the dollar amounts stated in various provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and one provision of Title 28 of the United States Code will become effective. The amended dollar amounts will apply to cases filed on or after April 1, 2007.  The amended dollar amounts will affect, among other matters, the eligibility of a debtor to file under chapters 12 and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code, certain maximum values of property that a debtor may claim as exempt, the maximum amount of certain claims entitled to priority, the calculation of the “means test” for Chapter 7 debtors, the duration of a chapter 13 plan, the definition of a small business debtor, the minimum aggregate value of claims needed to commence an involuntary bankruptcy, the value of “luxury goods and services” deemed to be nondischargeable, and the location where the trustee may commence certain proceedings to recover a money judgment or property. In the Bankruptcy Reform Act, as amended by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, Congress provided for the automatic adjustment of these dollar amounts at three-year intervals.

The adjustments reflect the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the United States Department of Labor for the three-year period and rounded to the nearest $25. Use of this formula to adjust specified dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code is prescribed by 11 U.S.C. The Judicial Conference published the revised dollar amounts in volume 72, number 30, of the Federal Register, at page 7082, as required under 11 U.S.C. The next three-year automatic adjustment of these dollar amounts will be published and will take effect April 1, 2010.

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