The requirements in a business case are set forth in the local rules
and are substantially more involved than a non-business case.
However, there is no definition anywhere of what a business case is.
The local rules merely say: "If the debtor is operating a
business or is otherwise self-employed..."
Many debtors are both employed, and have self-employment side jobs
(which can include renting property, or the under water basket
weaving website they have).
I have asked the Trustees about this in the past, and they generally
say they know it when they see it. It is really up to the Trustee
to determine whether or not it is a business case. This makes it
difficult for attorneys representing debtors to figure out ex ante
what needs to be provided in a given case. I've NEVER heard of a
Trustee objecting to the treatment of a case as a business case when
it's unclear (as where, for example, the facts are like the
hypothetical in this thread) whereas if you don't treat a case as
business case and provide the documents, you will most likely have
to provide the additional documentation to the Trustee and, as Jay
points out, if you chose to do the RARA and did not treat it as a
business case, you're out of luck on your additional fees.
Thus, my default is to err on the side of something being a
business case. It doesn't have to be 100% business or even over
50%. It doesn't say that ANYWHERE. That being said, this is an
area that would be nice if future revisions of our local rules would
define what a business case actually is....
*************************
Mark J. Markus
Law Office of Mark J. Markus
11684 Ventura Blvd. PMB #403
Studio City, CA 91604-2652
(818)509-1173 (818)509-1460 (fax)
web:
http://www.bklaw.com/
Certified Bankruptcy Law Specialist--The State Bar of California
Board of Legal Specialization
This Firm is a Qualified Federal Debt Relief Agency (see what this
means at
The post was migrated from Yahoo.