Filing C13 in February..Need help

[DebtHeadache]

Hello everyone, well I have been getting nasty letters in the mail from our CC's that say they will be escallating their collect efforts. We do not answer the phone...it is a pain and we have to unplug the phone because it rings about every 10 minutes.

Can someone please give me a breakdown of what we will need to provide for documents for a Chapter 13. We are over the means test (which I have down on a online calulator).

Another question my husband just got a 1,000 bonus check do we have to disclose it when we file?

Thanks much and Happy Holidays everyone.

[magyar123]

That $1000 bonus will be icluded in your 2007 W2 earnings total - so no need to disclose it.
Other posters on this board who filed 13s under the new laws will let you know about the documents that you have to prepare, if you intend to file pro se.

[isitreal]

Anything you can do for the lawyer will help out. I would suggest getting information for all of your debts - Name, addresss (not where you send the payment), amount you owe, monthly payment, interest rate, etc. You will have to have all this information anyway and you might as well start now.

[lrprn]

That $1000 bonus will be icluded in your 2007 W2 earnings total - so no need to disclose it.

THIS IS NOT CORRECT!! If your husband's $1000 bonus arrived during the six calendar months before you file, then you must include it as income.

Other posters on this board who filed 13s under the new laws will let you know about the documents that you have to prepare, if you intend to file pro se.

I hope you are not planning to file Ch 13 without a lawyer. The current law makes filing Ch 13 much more difficult than it was before.

There are multiple gray areas in the bk law just waiting to trap the unsuspecting pro se filer. Get an experienced Ch 13 lawyer for sure! Filing a Ch 13 plan that you can live on for 5 years is more of an art than a science. Haviing a lawyer who knows the ins and outs of what the trustee will allow in your district is half the battle surviving a 13.

Here's a link to the B22C forms used to file Ch 13 - http://www.uscourts.gov/bankform/ . Also take a look at the Schedules B6A-J arther down the page. These are the typical forms that need to be filled out to file Ch 13.

[DebtHeadache]

Thanks for your response Lrprn, and yes we fully intend to get a Lawyer. I appreciate the help.

DH

[DebtHeadache]

Thanks Isitreal, I have a excel spreadsheet that has the Creditor name listed, account #, mailing address (although it is the billing address) and the date account opened and the current amount owed. The CC's have really been adding up the Interest, late fees and over limit fees. I just hope when we do file in February that it goes as smooth as possible.

We have some bills we need to take of first: Real estate taxes, and 6 month car insurance policy is due. And we need to compile 2 months worth of escrow $$ because we are adding an excrow account to our mortgage payment. We have always paid our taxes seperately but it has been a struggle each year to paid the taxes. Seems the money just disappears as other needs come up. I want these to be paid first.

I guess you can call it cleaning house, I want things to be as simple as possible. The stress of opening the bills everyday is getting to me, and being scared at what is in the bill is driving me to the brink of my sanity.

Also this whole situation isnt doing my marriage any favors, and that is an added stress that I do not need at this time.

Thanks for letting me vent.

DH

[Flamingo]

Hello everyone, well I have been getting nasty letters in the mail from our CC's that say they will be escallating their collect efforts. We do not answer the phone...it is a pain and we have to unplug the phone because it rings about every 10 minutes.

Can someone please give me a breakdown of what we will need to provide for documents for a Chapter 13. We are over the means test (which I have down on a online calulator).

Another question my husband just got a 1,000 bonus check do we have to disclose it when we file?

Thanks much and Happy Holidays everyone.

(1) You will need to disclose income received at least six months prior to your filing and may be asked to provide information on every check received over a certain amount (in our case over $1,000). We were asked to provide for a 12 month period copies of our bank statements and explain all checks deposited in excess of $1,000 or any checks written in excess of $1,000. Your $1,000 will fall into that category and will also be part of your income for 2007 - you will be asked for a copy of your 2007 tax returns by your attorney for review.

(2) Take to your intial appointment a complete listing of (a) monthly payments (2) all bills and amounts due (3) sources of all income including recent pay stubs, (4) a listing of all your assets (stocks, house, savings, 401(ks), etc.) and a copy of your tax returns, state and federal (most recent).

I feel for you as to the phone calls. If you have caller ID you can recognize them when they call and can just avoid answering the phone. If you do not have caller ID, if you are not expecting normal phone calls you can just take the phone off the hook during the times when the calls appear to be the worse when you are home. When you retain an attorney, we answered the calls and acknowledged the calling party, told them we filed for Chapter 13 and gave them the name and phone number of our attorney and the case number. The calls dwindled after a while, but it took about another month or so to just become an occasional now and then phone call from a creditor who just had not yet received our filing papers.

[DebtHeadache]

Thanks for the information Flamingo. Hope you have a safe and Happy Holiday.

[qwertysue]

We also needed to give our attorney the past 6 months worth of bills (LOC, CC, Utilities, Cell, Cable, etc.) and copies of our insurance binders/proof of auto insurance.

[Flamingo]

Thanks for the information Flamingo. Hope you have a safe and Happy Holiday.

Things will get better - try to have a marvelous Christmas and focus on the better ones ahead!

[woeisme]

you will want to have copies showing insurance covereages. This includes cars and houses (as those will be assets in the case so the BK trustee wants to make sure they are protected) and even life insurance policies (in case they are whole life instead of term, they could be considered assets, and the payments to term policies are part of the budget.)

I also had to have a copy of my morgage paperwork, statements showing how much we owed for taxes (part of our escrow account) and a recent appraisal of the home's value, which really was a pain since it cost $300 to get. (Don't do that one unless your lawyer says you must since it cost so much.)