Hi, I’m Mike Greiner. I’m a bankruptcy attorney here with a financial law group located in Warren, Michigan, and I’m here to talk to you today about the Means Test for Chapter Seven bankruptcy. Now, a number of years ago they changed the law, and a lot of people were convinced when the law was changed that it made it impossible for you to get rid of your debts though Chapter Seven bankruptcy; well, that’s not the case. What they did do, though, is that they implemented a means test, a test that basically looks at your income over the last six months, and based upon what your income is, it determines if you’re eligible for Chapter Seven bankruptcy. Now if you’re above the income that typically would be allowed, then what you do is you get…you’re allowed to take certain specific kinds of deductions from that then to see if you’re eligible based upon that. The test does take into consideration your household size. It does take into consideration certain things like your mortgage payment, for example, or how many vehicles you’re paying on. It also takes into consideration things like domestic support issues you may have, like child support or alimony that you need to pay. So all those things get boiled into the test. And what i’ve found is most of my clients, when they’re feeling under financial stress, the fact is that they are recognized as being in financial stress by this means test, and it does allow them to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy.
One more thing we’re able to do in a number of cases is say for example someone had a very good income for the last six months but is just going into a period where they’re unemployed or their income has been significantly declined for one reason or another. What we’ve been able to do is to file what’s called an Affidavit of Special Circumstances. By filing that Affidavit, what that does is informs the court that even though based upon the income of the last six months, you would not be eligible for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, looking forward at your income for the next six months then that you would be eligible for Chapter 7 bankruptcy  And we found that the courts have responded very favorably to that type of affidavit. If you want to find out, if you’re eligible for chapter 7 bankruptcy, call my office for a free consultation. I’ll be happy to meet with you anytime. The number of the office is 586-693-2000, and my website is financiallawgroup.com