楊清泉律師專欄：MEANS TEST MISSTATEMENTS MAY BE PROOF OF FRAUDULENT INTENT (二)

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Debtor then filed an answer denying the allegations in the complaint. After filing his answer, the debtor filed amended Chapter 7 schedules showing a current monthly income of $4,689, and total deductions of $5,058.02. The bankruptcy court said the plaintiff’s contention with respect to Section 727(a)(4) was on the statements made in the means test forms under Chapter 13 and Chapter 7. Both of these documents, executed under penalty of perjury, showed an annual income less than the applicable median income when the debtor’s income was actually in excess of the applicable median. When questioned about these discrepancies, debtor blamed them on climate change and Obamacare and on the fact that his attorney intended to file the debtor’s case on January 31, 2012, but it was not filed until February 3, 2012. “This explanation, however, does not adequately negate the clear misstatement in the defendant’s Chapter 13 means test understating his monthly income,” the court said. “Clearly, based upon the defendant’s own pay advices, the $4,333 reflected in the chapter 13 means test and again in the chapter 7 means test is not an accurate figure, and the defendant’s testimony that the 3 days delay in filing his bankruptcy schedules cause a mathematical error is not plausible and is clearly incorrect.” The court said there were other discrepancies in the means test forms, the combined effect of which was to lead the court to conclude that the debtor made false oaths with fraudulent intent.

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Lawrence Bautista Yang is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and has been in law practice for thirty years. He specializes in bankruptcy, business and civil litigation and has handled more than five thousand successful bankruptcy cases in California. He speaks Mandarin and Fujien and looks forward to discussing your case with you personally. Please call (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S Fremont Ave, Mailstop 58, Bldg A-1 Suite 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803.