Edward A. Mizvitowicz and Barbara A. Mizvitowicz

UNITED S TATES B ANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR T HE E ASTERN DISTRICT O F PENNSYLVANIA
In re 	: 	Chapter 07
:
EDWARD A. MIZVITOWICZ and 	: 	Bankruptcy No. 08-11070DWS
BARBARA A. MIZVITOWICZ 	:
:
Debtor. 	:
ORDER
AND NOW, this 6th day of March 2008, Debtors having filed a voluntary petition
in bankruptcy under chapter 7 on February 14, 2008;
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 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
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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 	Debtors 	having 	filed 	a 	Certification 	of 	Exigent 	Circumstances 	(the
“Certification”) that fails to meet the requirements discussed above, namely the Certification
indicates that counseling was in fact available within five days beginning from the date
Debtors made the request;
It is hereby ORDERED that Debtors’ case shall be and hereby is DISMISSED for
failure to comply with § 109(h).
DIANE WEISS SIGMUND
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
Case 08-11070-dws Doc 16 Filed 03/06/08 Entered 03/06/08 13:35:03 Desc Main
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