Call me Crazy

[SwimminUpStream]

We are really thinking hard here..just got an Email from lawyer, who now tells me we cannot keep our life insurance premiums in BK. WHAT? We are late 40's and only have 225K in life insurance on each other at a cost of 27/mo. Drop my life insurance? NO WAY. I think that is a necessary expense.

So, we have been going back and forth, back and forth..we could pay off the CC IF they are willing to nego. 2 have already sent me letters of good disc..Home Depot and Am. Express. I have 4 cards with Chase and not sure what they will do, along with BA.

That just leaves us then with the motorhome. We owe about 49K on it. It is an 04 and is in excellent shape, however, even though it is going back to the dealer for them to consign..I expect we will end up owing beween 10-15K on it. I do not know how or even if the lender will work with us on the balance owed.

Do you think that maybe this is a better way to try and work than Chp. 13? Right now this lawyer is not working hard for us...and I think in the long run we would be better off in alot of ways if we can work the deals with the CC's and MH lender.

Thoughts? Even if you think I am crazy

[wayne-o]

your crazy.....haha. Just kidding... You can still keep your life insurance your lawyer is just saying its not an expense he can include in your budget. See if he can pad some of the other categories to give you the $27 a month you need to pay the premiums. I never used all of my food budget. And lucked out on the auto expense budget as well.

[SwimminUpStream]

No, for some reason this lawyer has us soooo lean it is not funny. I cannot even begin to tell you how lean it is.

[wayne-o]

I know its a struggle. It might not be the lawyer, he may just be reacting to what he knows the trustee is going to do. If you havent filed yet, it might not hurt to do a couple more consultations. Good luck!!

[SwimminUpStream]

Nope, have not filed yet...paid him in full in Feb. when we retained the firm, but nothing has been signed as far as paperwork to file.

[lrprn]

No, for some reason this lawyer has us soooo lean it is not funny. I cannot even begin to tell you how lean it is.

If your plan is cutting things that lean then you are going to be in trouble with your Ch 13 from day one. Unexpected stuff happens in life. You need some wiggle room in your Ch 13 to save up enough to handle those unexpected things or eventually something is going to happen to push you over the edge and you won't be able to make your payment.

Most experienced Ch 13 lawyers know what their trustee will allow and sensibly pad expenses to match local average costs and allows costs like your life insurance that don't have an official category.

Why is your lawyer cutting you so close? You need to find out for sure before signing yourself into a plan that is cutting things far too close to successfully finish five years from now.

[MajorMike]

Exactly!!! We have wiggle room up the ying yang and funny thing is, the trustee didn't think we'd be able to even fund the plan. We are on commission plus salary though and one more sale will pad us. We're lucky like that.
Also, like I said, we do stuff on the side for extra spending money. You should be able to find $27 a month without even worrying if he pads it or not. There are mystery shopping jobs and survey companies that will pay at least that.

[SwimminUpStream]

Mike-

I hear what you are saying, and yes we can find room for $ 27-/mo...but that really is not the point. The point is we are going to have to try and find room for alot of things. All I have been able to speak with is a paralegal...no lawyer. That is how this firm works, now after I paid them I find that out.

I still have yet to actually see how they are figuring anything, they will not send the paperwork to me yet.

I figure we might as well try and make the deals, then if worse comes to worse with the RV we can then file BK after waiting.

If I made deals with the CC..would it be 90 days we would have to wait as to not so special treatment?