Do you have to take the means test?

[sofarindebt]

If your income is under the average? My husband makes 65K/year and the average for a family of 5 is 85K or something in Minnesota. Will they still make us take the test?

[BK&Filer]

Everybody takes the means test, but if you are under the median you will only fill out the first few questions on the form. If you were over you would need to answer a lot more questions regarding income/expenditures. Although you will not need to fill out the whole means test, you will still need to fill out the schedules itemizing income and expenditures (everybody has to complete these) - and if the schedules indicate enough disposable income per month (some say > $100) you can be forced into a chapter 13.

[sofarindebt]

define "disposable income"

does this mean after your living expenses, or living expenses + minimum payments on debts?

[HHM]

Minimum payments on unsecured debt, DO NOT COUNT toward your expenses; afterall, those are the debts that are going to be discharged in BK.

[BK&Filer]

Expenditures include living expenses, but not payments on debts that will be discharged. It helped me to actually look at the forms - you can see the types of expenses you can list. I actually found it pretty easy to cover all of my income with allowable (and reasonable) expenses - and I was a little below the median on the means test.

[SinkingFast]

People who make less than the Median complete Form B22A. You stop at Line 15 where your actual income is compared to the Median. You don't fill in any expenses or anything on the Means Test when filing Ch 7.

You will need expenses for Schedule J tho.