Just wanted to run a lil pole here if I can?

[daisey]

Do you find that the attorney used what the means test said your disposable income was or what your schedules I and J determined it to be?


I guess I feel that if the means test determins if you can or cannot file for chapter 7 then it should also be the determination of your disposable income. Why should some people be entitled to spend more if they are in the same income level as you. I mean why punish those who chose to live frugal. We have a small compact car and the payments are way under what most folks car payments are, why should we not be able to save the difference. If the federal standards are what the general rule of thumb is why be punished for not living up to them.

Just wanting opinions of how you or your attorney determined you disposable income.

[lrprn]

Daisey, a major key to your lawyer setting a reasonable payment for Ch 13 is to provide him/her with *reasonable* estimates for your living expenses. If you've been living very frugally for the last six months trying to stretch your meager dollars (not buying clothes, eating Ramen noodles, not repairing cars, not repairing the house, etc) before filing, and then you give your attorney those unrealistic average costs for your living expenses rather than what is realistically needed for the average family in your area over 36 or 60 months (you have to buy clothes, repair cars, repair the house, etc), then the Means Test will end up showing an inaccurately high amount of disposable income. That means you won't be able to make the calculated (but inaccurate) plan payments until the plan is done.

What living expense estimates did you give your attorney? Unsustainably frugal monthly expenses or realistic monthly expenses that match the average in your community for a family your size?