Quit Job? File for 7?

[jkhilljr]

If I quit my current job and have only my wife's income coming in, which would put us at the median income level, can we file for a 7? Can anyone answer this or help me out?

[lrprn]

If I quit my current job and have only my wife's income coming in, which would put us at the median income level, can we file for a 7? Can anyone answer this or help me out?

The answer depends on:
- how much your wife makes from all sources of income the last six months before you file
- which state you live in
- how many children and adults are currently living with you
- how long your family can make it financially with no income from you to get below the median income in your state for your family size and stay at that level for the 90-120 days it takes to successfully discharge a Ch 7 case that has no problems.
- what assets (if any) you want to keep if you file Ch 7 (house, car, etc)
- if you are up to date on payments for the assets you want to keep

If you give us more information related to these areas, we'll be able to help you more.

[HHM]

You would have to quite your job and stay out of work for 6 months.

Generally speaking, I NEVER advice anyone to quite their job to file BK, unless.
1. You can meet your living and household expenses on the income from one spouse.
2. The job you are quiting is a, throw-away, part-time job

[qwertysue]

I could have quit my job and we easily could have qualified for a 7. My gut instinct was to NOT quit....my attorney asked if I loved my job so much that I would work there for nothing. I told him yes. He stated that's what I would basically be doing for the next five years. He wouldn't let us sign our papers immediately but made us another appointment a few days later so that we could think about what we wanted to do.

We are filing a 13 for several reasons:

• Living the 6 months on just his salary would have been next to impossible
• I DO love my job (the first time ever that I can say that)
• Due to health issues, my resume already has spotty periods of unemployment and I didn't want to have to answer *why were you unemployed for 6 months*
• For us, filing a 13 feels better than a 7 (it was always our intention to do a 13)

It's one of those things where if you ask 100 different people, you'll get 100 different answers.

Take into consideration what lrprn posted, do your free atty consults and take as long as you can to decide what's right for you and your family.

Good luck!