On the recordDecember 16, 2015
Every day at home and abroad, uniformed men and women risk their lives to protect our freedom and way of life. Among those brave souls are military reservists and members of the National Guard, who have been called to duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in many other places across the globe. We are eternally grateful for their service to our country. The Federal Government has a responsibility to ease the transition of reservists and guardsmen back into civilian life upon their return home. Some may return home with physical handicaps. For others, psychological challenges face them and their families. Some of these veterans and their families have suffered financial hardships, and, occasionally, bankruptcy is the unfortunate last resort. In a chapter 7 bankruptcy, debtors surrender virtually all of their assets to the bankruptcy trustee and receive a discharge from their debts at the end of the short case. In 2005, Congress made a number of reforms to the Bankruptcy Code under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. A significant policy goal of that Act was to address abuses of the chapter 7 bankruptcy process. To that end, Congress inserted into the Bankruptcy Code a threshold test to gauge whether debtors have disposable income that can be used to pay their debts.…





