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Not "Special" Enough For Chapter 7: An Analysis Of The Special Circumstances Provision Of The Bankruptcy Code, Roma Perez

Cleveland State Law Review

The “special circumstances” provision of the Bankruptcy Code, Section 707(b)(2)(B), allows a consumer debtor to rebut the presumption of abuse that is triggered when debtor fails the means test. Congress enacted the statute as a procedural safeguard fully aware that means testing, as set-out in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, could lead to arbitrary results for some debtors. For consumer debtors, the provision functions as a type of escape-hatch. It allows a debtor to avoid dismissal of his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case by introducing documentary evidence that the means test calculation, and its attendant income …