Monica Lavade Williams and Cordell Ague Williams

UNITED S TATES B ANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR T HE E ASTERN DISTRICT O F PENNSYLVANIA
In re 	: 	Chapter 7
:
MONICA LAVADE WILLIAMS 	:
aka MONICA LAVADE BOYD 	and 	: 	Bankruptcy No. 07-13013DWS
CORDELL AGUE WILLIAMS , 	:
:
Debtors. 	:
ORDER
AND NOW, this 29th day of May 2007, Debtors having filed a voluntary petition in
bankruptcy under chapter 7 on May 24, 2007;
And Debtors having failed to file a certificate evidencing prepetition credit
counseling, which is an eligibility requirement for bankruptcy relief pursuant to 11 U.S.C.
§ 109(h)(1) (“an individual may not be a debtor . . . unless such individual has, during the
180-day period preceding the date of filing of the petition by such individual, received from
an approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency . . . an individual or group
briefing (including a briefing conducted by telephone or on the Internet) that outlined the
opportunities for available credit counseling and assisted such individual in performing a
related budget analysis.”). Thus, the credit counseling requirement should be met before the
individual files a voluntary bankruptcy petition;
And Debtors having indicated on Exhibit D - Statement of Compliance with
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In re Monica & Cordell Williams - Bankruptcy No. 07-13013DWS
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Credit Counseling Requirement to their petition that exigent circumstances existed
pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 109(h)(3)(A) and having filed a certification in support thereof
(the “Certification”);
And 11 U.S.C. § 109(h)(3)(A) permitting a debtor to obtain credit counseling after
his/her bankruptcy case commenced, but only in very limited circumstances, i.e., a debtor
must certify: 	(1) that he/she sought credit counseling prior to the filing of the petition;
(2) such counseling was not available within five days beginning from the date the debtor
made the request; and (3) the debtor needed to file his/her petition for valid, emergency
reasons and thus could not wait for such counseling to take place;
And the Certification merely asserting that Debtors were not aware of the credit
counseling requirement, which is not a basis for waiver under § 109(h)(3)(A);
It is hereby ORDERED that Debtors’ case shall be and hereby is DISMISSED
for failure to comply with § 109(h).
DIANE WEISS SIGMUND
Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
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