Basically, if you are over, then you are a chapter 13.  If you are under, then you are a chapter 7.

So I just refunded a retainer payment to some clients who didn’t understand the difference between net and gross. With one child, the magical median income number was $78,581. They told me that their income was sitting at $72,000, so it should have been a simple chapter 7. Once they sent in their paystubs, it showed that they were pulling in $98,000 a year (gross). With payroll deductions, they were netting $72,000 a year (net).When I ran their income figures through my 6 month paystub analysis, Form 122 showed that they had over $2,000 a month left over to pay their creditors off. That means that they would have to be a chapter 13 with a repayment plan of up to $2,000 a month. They didn’t like this development at all, and I refunded their money.

Now remember that these numbers can be adjusted by child support payments (received or made), larger mortgages, huge tax debt, etc.