Claim income I DON'T have?!

[Hopeless]

I received a message from my lawyer looking for additional paperwork AND telling me he is planning to say I have $650 per month coming in when at this time I DO NOT. (It is less.)

I've yet to speak directly to him, and I hope he calls back SOON, but...I was VERY confused and worried by that.

His message said something about me still operating at a deficit but it "will look better" to say I have that much coming in, etc.

Again, I need to get clarification from him, but I didn't like the sound of it - I have no intention of LYING and I do not understand why he would even suggest doing that.

Anyone have a better understanding of what he might be trying to do or why?

Thanks in advance...

[Hopeless]

TO CLARIFY:

He mentioned the $650 being listed as 'income from other sources, family and friends that have helped you...'

[SinkingFast]

Generally speaking, attnys want the paperwork to show only slightly negative to slightly positive.

If you are currently showing a HUGE deficit on your Schedule I vs Schedule J, you may have bigger problems than BK can fix.

[Hopeless]

Thank you 'SF.' I learn something new here everyday!

This is the first time I have heard anything about these deficit numbers and not a topic I'd seen anything about.

Can you explain a little more about the importance of these numbers?

[HHM]

Schedules I & J Represent your actual income and "living expenses". If you are bankrupt, that means you can barely afford to live. So, in that respect, the actual calculation of your income vs expenses should either be even, somewhat negative, or slightly positive.

Obviously, if there is a huge surplus of income, then you are not broke and you can afford to pay something back to your creditor and therefore are put into a chapter 13. However, if you are even or slightly negative, then you are a prime candidate for chapter 7 and it demonstrates you have no excess money to pay to creditors. However, if you show a huge deficit [more than $300 per month] (i.e expenses far exceed your income) it begs the question of how you make ends meet and it raises a minor red flag in your case. But, usually nothing comes of it, because it is the creditors who generally need to object at this point, the trustee and US Trustee won't generally get involved. But since creditors do not actively monitor cases (unless there were recent charges), no one really says anything.

But the larger issue, as SF points out, is if you have a "real" and large deficit, then you have issues that a BK will not readily solve. You need to address your "personal balance sheet" At some point, you either need to reduce expenses, or increase income so that you can meet your necessary expenses without using credit.

[Hopeless]

MANY thanks for the information.

This is yet another area I knew nothing about and glad the subject came up so I can understand a bit better.

Once again, I came to the right place!