Household Size; UST Tendency?
Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:38 pm
In a recent case, I filed a Ch7 claiming a 5-person household (no
dependents), consisting of debtor-homeowner, her two adult daughters,
debtor's fianc and a boyfriend of one of the daughters. Valley UST
office contacted me: "why are there no dependents on "I" when you
claim a five person household?" I sent UST letter detailing
this "defacto" household, including that the group had been together
for many years (at least 5), that the members made financial
contribution to debtor, that debtor's father did the same. I cited
the Census Bureau definition and the Jewell Case 365 BR 796 801-02
(So Dist of Ohio) (from Peter Lively).
Further conversation with UST. UST approved it as 5-person
household.
I think the approval was given because 1) it was clear that the
debtor was barely squeaking by;
2) she absolutely needed the contribution from household members,
or would lose the house; 3) the group fit into the "household as
economic unit" concept. There was no indication of an intent to
abuse the system. This was a lot more flexibility than I expected
from UST office. Have others had a similar experience?
Mike Candiotti
The post was migrated from Yahoo.