Johnson v. Zimmer
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
686 F.3d 224 (2012)
Johnson (plaintiff) filed for bankruptcy claiming a household of seven, including two sons who lived with her 204 days a year under joint custody with her ex-husband Zimmer (defendant) and three stepchildren who lived with her 180 days a year. Zimmer objected that Johnson overstated her household size because the children didn't live with her full-time, and the bankruptcy court, using the economic-unit approach, assigned each of the two sons a 0.56 valuation and each stepchild a 0.49 valuation, totaling 2.59, rounded up to three children plus Johnson and her husband for a household size of five.
Whether, in determining household size for bankruptcy purposes, a court may assign fractional valuations for individuals based on the amount of time they reside in the household.