Carolyn A Adams and Thomas R Adams

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
IN RE:
CAROLYN A. ADAMS and
THOMAS R. ADAMS,
Debtors. 	CASE NO. 08-04577-8-JRL
Chapter 13
____________________________________________________________________________
ORDER
The matter before the court is the debtor's amended motion to reinstate this case and set
aside the order for dismissal entered on August 25, 2008. For the reasons that follow, the motion
will be allowed.
On July 8, 2008, the debtors filed a petition for relief under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy
Code. On July 9, 2008, the court sent the debtor a deficiency notice for failing to disclose any
reasonably anticipated increase in income or expenditures as provided for on line 17 of Schedule I
and line 19 of Schedule J. The notice included a warning that the case would be subject to
automatic dismissal pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 521(i) if the required documents were not timely
SO ORDERED.
SIGNED this 10 day of October, 2008.
________________________________________
J. Rich Leonard
United States Bankruptcy Judge
____________________________________________________________
Case 08-04577-8-RDD Doc 39 Filed 10/10/08 Entered 10/10/08 12:47:39 Page 1 of 2

1 Section 521(i)(1) provides, in relevant part, that "if an individual debtor in a voluntary case
under chapter 7 or 13 fails to file all of the information required under subsection (a)(1) within 45
days after the date of the filing of the petition, the case shall be automatically dismissed effective on
the 46th day after the date of the filing of the petition."
2
filed.1
The debtors subsequently failed to file a statement concerning future changes in income or
expenditures and the case was automatically dismissed pursuant to § 521(i) on August 25, 2008.
Also on August 25, and one day after the deadline for doing so, the debtors filed amendments to
their schedules which indicated they did not anticipate any change in income or expenses within
the following year. On September 6, 2008, the debtors filed an amended motion to reinstate the
case, asserting that line 17 of Schedule I and line 19 of Schedule J were intentionally left blank.
Section 521(a)(1) requires that the debtor file “a statement disclosing any reasonably
anticipated increase in income or expenditures over the 12-month period following the date of the
filing of the petition[.]” 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1)(B)(vi). Failure by a Chapter 13 debtor to file all of
the information required under § 521(a)(1) within 45 days after the petition date will result in an
automatic dismissal. 11 U.S.C. § 521(i)(1). Here, the debtors’ case was automatically dismissed
when they failed to disclose any anticipated change in income or expenditures. However, the
debtors’ amended schedules revealed that the debtors’ counsel apparently omitted this information
because they anticipate no change in income or expenditures. On these facts, the court is
unwilling to deem this a noncompliance with § 521 that would be fatal to the case.
Based on the foregoing, the motion to reinstate the case and set aside dismissal is
ALLOWED.
“END OF DOCUMENT”
Case 08-04577-8-RDD Doc 39 Filed 10/10/08 Entered 10/10/08 12:47:39 Page 2 of 2