## Facts

- Paul A. Patterson filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition.
- Paul owed obligations to his former wife, Janie M. Patterson, under their divorce decree.
- Janie filed an adversary complaint in the bankruptcy court seeking a determination that Paul’s divorce-decree obligation was nondischargeable.
- Paul responded that he could not pay the obligation because his child-support obligations exceeded his income.
- Paul also claimed that a hand injury limited his ability to work and reduced his earning capacity.
- The bankruptcy court found that Paul’s obligations did not exceed his income.
- The bankruptcy court rejected Paul’s claim that the hand injury affected his ability to work.
- The bankruptcy court found that treating the obligation as dischargeable would cause extreme detriment to Janie and the child.
- The bankruptcy court held that Paul’s obligation to Janie was not dischargeable.
- Paul appealed to the district court, which affirmed, and Paul then appealed to the Sixth Circuit.

## Issues

1. Whether Paul’s divorce-decree obligation to Janie was nondischargeable in Paul’s Chapter 7 case under the Bankruptcy Code’s exception for certain divorce-related debts.
2. Whether Paul proved that he was unable to pay the divorce-related obligation based on his income, expenses, and claimed hand injury.
3. Whether the bankruptcy court erred in finding that discharge would cause extreme detriment to Janie and the child.
4. Whether the lower courts’ findings and nondischargeability determination should be disturbed on appeal.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment affirming the bankruptcy court.
- The court left in place the determination that Paul’s divorce-decree obligation to Janie was not dischargeable.
- The court accepted the bankruptcy court’s findings that Paul’s obligations did not exceed his income and that his claimed hand injury did not limit his ability to work.
- The court accepted the finding that discharge would result in extreme detriment to Janie and the child.

## Legal Principles

- A debt arising out of a divorce decree may be excepted from discharge in Chapter 7, including certain obligations owed to a former spouse that are not treated as ordinary consumer debts.
- In applying the divorce-debt exception in effect at the time, courts consider the debtor’s claimed inability to pay and the harm that discharge would cause to the former spouse (and, where relevant, the child).
- The debtor bears the burden to establish an inability to pay when seeking discharge of a divorce-related obligation on that ground.
- Bankruptcy court findings about income, expenses, work capability, and hardship are factual determinations that generally receive deferential review on appeal.

## Conclusion

In re Patterson holds that Paul Patterson’s divorce-decree obligation to his former wife was not dischargeable in his Chapter 7 case because the bankruptcy court found he could pay despite his asserted child-support burden and hand injury, and because discharge would cause extreme detriment to his former wife and their child; the district court and Sixth Circuit affirmed that result.


In re Patterson, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 33664 (1997)