Mabel J. Hairston

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The order below is hereby signed.

Signed: January 24, 2006.

AiaMny Le foe

S. Martin Teel, Jr.
United States Bankruptcy Judge

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

In re

Case No. 06-00006
(Chapter 7)

MABEL J. HAIRSTON,

Debtor.

ORDER
On January 9, 2006, the debtor filed an Application for

Waiver of the Chapter 7 Filing Fee for Individuals Who Cannot Pay
the Filing Fee in Full or in Installments (D.E. No. 12).
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1930 as amended by § 418 of the
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention & Consumer Protection Act of 2005,
Pub. L. 109-8 (eifective October 17, 2005), this court

may waive the filing fee in a case under

chapter 7 of title 11 for an individual if

the court determines that such individual has

income less than 150 percent of the income

official poverty line .. . applicable toa

family of the size involved and is unable to

pay that fee in installments.
28 U.S.C. § 1930(f) (1).

The debtor’s application states that there are two members

of her household, that she has no monthly net income, and that

AUTHENTICATED
U.S. GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION

GPO

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her monthly expenses total $1,076.00. The debtor’s Statement of
Current Monthly =ncome and Means Test Calculation (D.E. No. 11,
filed January 9, 2006), however, states that there are three
members of her household (even though the debtor claims that she
is unmarried elsewhere in that same statement), and that the
debtor receives $1,076.00 per month in income plus another
$829.00 per month in contributions from another person to the
expenses of the debtor or the debtor’s dependents.

The debtor’s Schedules I and J (D.E. No. 4, filed January 9,
2006) list her net monthly income as $1,076.00 (no mention is
made of the $829.00 that the debtor may or may not receive from
an outside contr:butor), and Schedule J lists the debtor's
monthly expenses as totaling $603.00--a difference of $473.00
each month. Finally, the debtor’s certificate of credit
counseling (D.E. No. 10, filed January 9, 2006) also lists the
debtor’s income as $1,076.00 per month, but calculates her
monthly expenses as totaling $829.00 per month for a difference
of $247.00. Thus, depending on the figures used, the debtor may
make as much as $22,860.00 per year for a two-person household
and save as much as $1,302.00 per month, or she may make as
little as $0.00 in a year and lose as much as $829.00 every
month.

The court cannot make any definitive finding regarding the

debtor’s income because of the numerous inconsistencies in the

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debtor’s various filings. Such findings are necessary to permit
a waiver of the chapter 7 filing fee. Accordingly, the court
cannot grant the debtor’s application at this time.

But even if the court had a concrete understanding of the
debtor’s finances, it is likely that the debtor’s application
would be unsuccessful. Assuming that the debtor actually draws a
monthly income of $1,076.00 (as suggested by the debtor’s
statement of monthly income, schedules, and certificate of credit
counseling), and expends rather than receives an additional
$829.00 each month (as suggested by the debtor’s certificate of
credit counseling), the debtor’s annual income would fall short
of 150% of the applicable poverty line figure regardless of
whether that figure was calculated for a household of two or
three.’ However, the debtor’s income would exceed her
expenditures by $247.00 each month. Without any other evidence

of extenuating circumstances, the court must presume that a

* Section 1930(f) specifies that the “official poverty
line” figures used for purposes of the chapter 7 fee waiver refer
to those “defined by the Office of Management and Budget [“OMB”],
and revised annually in accordance with [§] 673(2) of the Omnibus
Reconciliation Act of 1981 .. . ." The Judicial Conference of
the United States interprets this language to refer to the
poverty guidelines maintained annually by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (“HHS”) because the OMB has never
issued poverty guidelines or thresholds. Under the most recent
HHS guidelines, the poverty line for a family of three is
$16,090.00 per year, which would mean that the debtor’s projected
income would equal approximately 80% of the poverty line figure,
while the poverty line for a household of two is $12,830.00,
which would mean that the debtor’s income would equal
approximately 101% of the poverty line figure.

3

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debtor saving $247.00 every month can pay her filing fee in
installments.

The debtor’s various filings are too inconsistent to permit
the findings necessary to warrant a waiver of the chapter 7
filing fee, and, to the extent that the court can glean any
understanding of the debtor’s finances from her various filings,
those figures suggest that the debtor has the resources to pay
her filing fee in installments if not in full. Accordingly, it
is

ORDERED that: the debtor’s Application for Waiver of the
Chapter 7 Filing Fee for Individuals Who Cannot Pay the Filing
Fee in Full or in Installments (D.E. No. 12) is DENIED; and it is

ORDERED that: within 15 days of the entry of this order the
debtor either pay the filing fee in this case in full, file an
application to pay the filing fee in installments and pay the
initial installment under any proposed installment plan in
accordance with Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1006 and the local rules of
this court, or show cause why her case ought not be dismissed.

[Signed and dated above.]

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