Protection of Family Farmers and Family Fisherman Act of 2003
Official title: A bill to permanently reenact chapter 12 of title 11, United States Code, and for other purposes.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Cites circumstances under which the claim of a governmental unit that arises from the disposition of a farm asset used in the debtor's farming operation shall be treated as an unsecured claim not entitled to priority.
Increases from $1.5 million to $3.237 million the maximum aggregate debt that permits a farming operation to qualify as a family farming operation for debt adjustment purposes. Decreases from 80 percent to 50 percent the minimum percentage of aggregate, noncontingent liquidated debts arising out of such a farming operation.
Modifies the requirement that a family farmer and spouse receive over 50 percent of income from farming operations in the year before a bankruptcy petition is filed. Allows the family farmer to meet the over-50-percent requirement in either the preceding taxable year or each of the second and third preceding taxable years.
Prohibits: (1) retroactive assessment of disposable income; and (2) post-confirmation modification of a bankruptcy plan that would increase the amount of payments that were due before such modification. Requires debtor's consent for post-confirmation increase in payments.
Extends Chapter 12 coverage to family fishermen whose aggregate debts do not exceed $1.5 million, of which at least 80 percent of aggregate noncontingent, liquidated debts arise out of a commercial fishing operation.
- Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 2004: Protection of Family Farmers and Family Fisherman Act of 2003. 108th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2004/
"S. 2004: Protection of Family Farmers and Family Fisherman Act of 2003." 108th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2004/.
S. 2004, 108th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2004/.
[S. 2004: Protection of Family Farmers and Family Fisherman Act of 2003](https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2004/)