Case Name: In the Matter of Doreen Mary Jane BRADY, Debtor/Appellant
Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1987-05-27
Citations: 86 B.R. 616
Docket Number: B. No. 86-02052-3; Civ. No. 87-0195-CV-W-3
Parties: In the Matter of Doreen Mary Jane BRADY, Debtor/Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's Bankruptcy Reporter
Volume: 86
Pages: 616–617

Head Matter:
In the Matter of Doreen Mary Jane BRADY, Debtor/Appellant.
B. No. 86-02052-3.
Civ. No. 87-0195-CV-W-3.
United States District Court, W.D. Missouri, W.D.
May 27, 1987.
John K. Weilert, Independence, Mo., for debtor.

Opinion:
ORDER
ELMO B. HUNTER, Senior District Judge.
Before the court is an appeal from an order of the Bankruptcy Court, made January 21, 1987, which dismissed appellant's Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition.
Appellant filed her Chapter 7 petition on May 5, 1986, listing unsecured claims totaling $5,448.36, and no secured or priority claims. Her property was of nominal value; appellant's sole income is a Social Security benefit check in the amount of $448.00 per month. On Schedule B-4 of her petition, appellant claimed her Social Security benefit as exempt property.
On January 21, 1987, after a hearing on the matter, the Bankruptcy Court dismissed the appellant's petition pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 707(b), stating that appellant's $448.00 per month income would enable her to repay her unsecured creditors through a Chapter 13 Plan in a little over two years at a rate of $200.00 per month.
Appellant points out that her monthly Social Security check is exempt property from her bankruptcy estate. See 11 U.S.C. § 522; 42 U.S.C. § 407(b); Mo.Rev.Stat. § 513.427 and 513.430(10)(a) (1986). This court agrees with appellant that it was error to dismiss her Chapter 7 petition on the grounds that she could pay her unsecured creditors with exempt income. See In re Mastroeni, 56 B.R. 456, 458-59 (S.D.N.Y.1985). Accordingly, it is
ORDERED the Bankruptcy Court's order dismissing appellant's Chapter 7 petition is reversed; it is further
ORDERED this matter is remanded to the Bankruptcy Court for further proceedings consistent with this order.