Should I get job or just not work

[dovette7]

Our 341 is April 10th next Tuesday. When the means test was filed, my attorney had the gross income incorrect. It was the net and then she took out taxes again. That made our disposable income $1416. After fixing the problem, our disposable income is $3800. Not to mention, noone checked to make sure enough taxes were taken out. They were not to the tune of $650 a month which I was told would be discussed with Trustee at 341, not before. I would think that would need to be discussed before b/c it would affect means test.

Husband makes $136K a year. Our submitted plan was for $1560 payback which was cars, taxes and 1% to cc. She talked with staff attorney and he implied that we should be able to pay 100% but discussed 50%. With our expenses(previously posted), there is no way.
We have a total of $132k in cc debt and $65000 in cars, taxes, att, trustee
Total $197000

I have been self employed and unemployed. So I had the idea if I could just hurry and get a job making enough, then we could be at a 100% plan for 60 months. That way any overage we could keep during the 5 years.
However, the attorney pulled me off of the job search today, because she said that it wouldn't necessarily be the balance of what we owed divided by 60 months.

The additional money I make would increase my payment making it less than 60 months. The bottom line is all "disposable income" right....so If I took my balance and divided it by 60 then that would be $3300.

However if I make more money, everything I make minus expenses associated with my job would raise my payment that much. We would be in the same position, but for a shorter amount of time?

So basically if I work, I cannot get ahead even if I am trying to pay everything I owe back? I could just pay off the plan quicker. Is that how it works?

I would love to finish this having paid everything I owe. This 5 year thing is killing me. And hearing that so many people fail.
My attorney is preparing me for worst case, telling me that we don't want to go to the judge b/c what they say goes. It could come to them wanting up to pay 50-100% and if we don't, we just dismiss the case.

And by the way, if our rent is higher than the irs avg? What can they do. I moved from a $2900 mortgage to $1750 rental. It's a little high, but they didn't require credit check and it was in right school district.

Sorry, I'm rambling, but it's drawing near and I cannot stop obsessing with this.

[SinkingFast]

On your rent being higher than the Schedules Allowables,.............. This may vary by Court and maybe even by Trustee, but,............. We pay more for rent than the Schedules Allowables and we were allowed our actual rent payment on Schedule J.

The attny told you right about getting a job. The point of Ch 13 is you pay ALL disposable income to the plan. If you're in a 100% payback over 60 months Plan, getting a job will get you paid out of the Plan sooner.

So you'd really have to do the math. See just how much quicker you could pay off your Plan. If you're looking at getting out of BK a few months sooner vs a year or more. You've also got to consider what you'd give up if you went back to work vs what you have now as a Stay at Home Parent. Then decide if it's worth it to you to pay off ASAP.

[dovette7]

But if I am not in a 100% plan and would like to get a job to be in a 100% plan for 60 months...it dosen't work that way does it? If I got a job, it would make my payments go up and lessen the months.

This is confusing. Our plan is not confirmed. Hypothetically let's say the payment gets confirmed at $2200 per month (without me working). That is paying unsecured at 50%. For us to be at 100% payback at 60 months, payment would need to be $3300. If I went and got a job, and made an additional net of $3000 per month. Instead of increasing the payments to $3300 and being able to keep the extra......... my plan payments would be raised $3300 per month for less than the 60 months. Is that right?

[SinkingFast]

Ahh! I gotchya now. And No.

If you start out at a 50% payback and get a job, the Court can just bump your payment up to whatever your total disposable income is for however many months. That is, up to 60 months max or 100% payback. Whichever comes first.

You have to pay ALL disposable income to the plan.

So if you get a job that nets $3K. Let's say you have $1K in expenses/mo for the new job. That adds an extra $2K to your initial $2200/mo Plan Payment. You'd pay $4200/mo until you've paid back 100% or until you've paid in for 60 months. Whichever comes first.

[dovette7]

Thanks for that confirmation. I've been looking at it all wrong.
I am trying not to be paralysed in fear of what is going to go down next week. Attorney says she dosen't want me to be overly worried but prepared. So I'm overly worried and sick. I guess next week will give me some sort of resolve.