Question about expenses if under income

For Ch. 7, if a person is way below the income limits, do they still do the expenses, where they have to say what they pay for food, clothes, etc. each month?? I was thinking no, but I"m so overwhelmed with info right now, I can't remember.

Thanks, Sara

You still have to work through all of the schedules.

On the Means Test, a below the Median filer stops at Line 15. Presumption of Abuse does not Arise.

Your earned income is listed and broken down on Schedule I. Gross, deductions, etc., to get your Net income. Your monthly living expenses are detailed on Schedule J.

At the bottom of Sched J, your Net income from Sched I is carried over. Your expenses from Sched J are deducted and your Net disposable income/month is determined.

Yes, its a complete package. You may meet the "means test" hurdle and be under your states "median income" level, but that is used to determine whether or not a claim of "abuse" can be used in your case.

Your complete financial situation must be presented to the court.

Theoretically, you could be under the median income for your state and be pushed into a BK13 if your disposable income/expenses ratio is high enough...

CPO

Ok, thanks for the info all of you!! :D Sara

Ok, another thing. I don't know if this should be a seperate question or included in this(if it should be it's own topic, feel free to yell at me...gently!! :tongue: ).

We currently have a truck payment. It is $700/month. It's killing us. WE were majorly upside down in the previous vehicle, and now way upside down on the new one too. We didn't pay June or July's payments(they were due the first of each month), but we are finally tomorrow mailing them one month's payment. Husband talked to the vehicle loan bank and they said usually 3-4 months behind they will repo. She said as long as we were making an attempt to pay something, they are usually happy.

Anyways, we are hoping to somehow get through to maybe February with this vehicle...doubt we'll ever be able to make up the missed payments. WE would like to get rid of it with the bk as it's about $20,000 upside down, and we really can't afford it. My questions are, will the trustee look at that we were paying $700/mo. and think we should then be able to continue to pay that much and be in a CH. 13? We would have to get a different vehicle to replace the high priced one...we have 4 kids, so we were thinking of a minivan. Definately used and not high priced. I don't know how we can work it out though. I don't want to get forced into a Ch. 13...if we were going to do that, I'd just assume file now rather than waiting until end of March when we are eligible to file Ch. 7. Any suggestions??

Thanks, Sara