Opinion ID: 171422
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: BAPCPA Amendments

Text: In passing the BAPCPA, Congress left § 1325(b)(1)(B) substantially unchanged (for present purposes), the only differences being that the pre-BAPCPA version (1) referred to a three-year period rather than the applicable commitment period as the relevant time period over which the debtor's plan must apply projected disposable income to plan payments (now three years for below-median debtors and five years for above-median debtors); and (2) required all such projected disposable income to be applied to make payments under the plan, 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(1)(B) (2000), rather than, more narrowly now, to make payments to the unsecured creditors. Thus, the relevant language of § 1325(b)(1)(B) is substantially the same now as it was before passage of the BAPCPA, i.e., that all projected disposable income to be received in the applicable commitment period ... will be applied to make payments. As the BAP pointed out, the pre-BAPCPA language meant that projected disposable income was the difference between a debtor's Schedule I income and her Schedule J expenses, subject to adjustment by the court if there was reason to believe that those schedules did not accurately predict a debtor's actual ability to pay. In re Lanning, 380 B.R. at 24; see also In re Nahat, 315 B.R. 368, 378-79 (Bankr.N.D.Tex.2004). Next, prior to passage of the BAPCPA, disposable income was defined as income which is received by the debtor and which is not reasonably necessary to be expended for the debtor's maintenance, support, charitable contributions, and business expenses. 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(2)(A) (2000). With the BAPCPA, Congress changed the definition of disposable income by tying it to a new term, current monthly income, 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(2), and adding the definition of current monthly income that in relevant part, as noted above, looks at the debtor's six-month pre-petition income, id. § 101(10A)(A)(i). Finally, the BAPCPA added a new clause to § 1325(b) that, for above-median debtors, requires the use of the standardized expenses and deductions calculated on Form B22C as the [a]mounts reasonably necessary to be expended under § 1325(b)(2) (with the exception of charitable contributions under (b)(2)(A)(ii)). See id. § 1325(b)(3). With this understanding of the relevant changes to the BAPCPA, we now turn to judicial decisions representative of the two interpretations of post-BAPCPA § 1325(b)(1)(B).