Surplus Income: Two Persons in the Household and They Have Filed Bankruptcy Jointly

The following is an example of how surplus income calculation would look when there are two persons in the household and they have filed bankruptcy jointly.

A joint bankruptcy filing is one in which the trustee treats both of the people that filed as one person (instead of treating them like two people). This is done in cases where the debts are substantially similar (that means 90% the same) and/or it makes sense from an administrative standpoint to treat the couple as a single file (to reduce the costs).

Let’s look at the last example again, only this time the couple have filed jointly.

The surplus income calculation looks like this:

Jane’s income: 2 x $875	$ 1,750
Steven’s income: 4 x $400	1,600
Total household income: =	$ 3,350
Less the government threshold	– 2,328
Income over the threshold	1,022
Surplus income rate (50% of $1,022)	511
Surplus income to be paid	$511

 

In this example, Jane and Steven would have to make an additional payment of $511 to their trustee due to their surplus income.