About to give up

[Mom2one]

About to give up. OK I read that they will only let you claim actual withholding taxes??? My husband claims my son and I , we usually get a refund of 2K every year. Now does this mean that they won't let us use his actual withholdings on the means test or Schedule I and J. Everytime I think that we may actually get through this I get more frustrated. Why do they always want to make it look like you have more each month than you actually do???

UGH!
Christine

[Cali]

I think you need to take a deep breathe and stop stressing out. You are going to end up sick if you keep stressing over things.

I don't remember what they used on our Schedules as far as taxes went.

[lrprn]

About to give up. OK I read that they will only let you claim actual withholding taxes???

Who is listed on income tax filing forms aren't what determines whether you count as family members on the bk filing forms.

If you, husband, and child are supported financially by the two of you in your household, then you are a family of three on the Means Test and Schedules. If you have other children or family members living with you at least half the time and you support them as well, they can count towards your family size even if they aren't listed as dependents on income tax forms.

Where did you read that you can't list yourself and son on the Means Test and Schedules?

[Frogge]

This is a big question, and one I was wondering myself. What you are asking, I think, Mom2one is if they don't count your total witholdings because you get a refund each year. I heard that too. My husband claims 4 of us, I claim myself, and mainly due to mortgage interest every year we get several thousand back in a refund. The way I understand the Schedule J calculation, you can't put down the total amount of witheld taxes each year, you have to NET out the refund. I THINK, unless I'm wrong. Someone chime in here if you know..this is a big deal and changes expenses by quite a bit on the Sched..

[laurannm]

This is a big question, and one I was wondering myself. What you are asking, I think, Mom2one is if they don't count your total witholdings because you get a refund each year. I heard that too. My husband claims 4 of us, I claim myself, and mainly due to mortgage interest every year we get several thousand back in a refund. The way I understand the Schedule J calculation, you can't put down the total amount of witheld taxes each year, you have to NET out the refund. I THINK, unless I'm wrong. Someone chime in here if you know..this is a big deal and changes expenses by quite a bit on the Sched..

I've seen some variation in Pacer on some of the cases in my district. Some look like they use withheld with no mention of a tax refund, while others use withheld and then put in a pro-rated estimate of their tax refund for the following tax year.

Our lawyer is telling us we should give a good-faith estimate of our tax refund and list that on our Schedule I

[Mom2one]

I wish I could calm down, but I have so much on my plate right now, I have a son with adhd going through puberty, my 16 year old dog's health is failing and I am up woth her all night., and I am scared to death to our future at this point. We are barely making it now, with no credit card payments since overtime was cut. and it seems that the trustees are determined to make it seem like you have more each month than you actually do. I give up

Christine

[Cali]

I have a 16 y/o daughter with ADD, so I understand you on that.
I don't see how they can make you file a chapter you can't afford.

We were over the median, but with our expenses we were allowed to file C7. Our debt is a lot so we might have to deal with the UST. I am hoping we won't.

Is your hubby helping you at all?

I wish I could calm down, but I have so much on my plate right now, I have a son with adhd going through puberty, my 16 year old dog's health is failing and I am up woth her all night., and I am scared to death to our future at this point. We are barely making it now, with no credit card payments since overtime was cut. and it seems that the trustees are determined to make it seem like you have more each month than you actually do. I give up

Christine

[Mom2one]

Hubby is doing the best he can. We are so stressed it is not even funny. I mean I am so scared my hands shake. I don't want to leave the house. The whole thing is our expenses. We only have 1 car payment and have a pretty small mortgage payment. I have gone over the expenses time and time again. I wonder if they will let us have the expenses. I may not be spending what I have down now, but certain parts of the year I do. Does that make any sense? I guess I just feel like we are gonna be pushed into a plan that we cannot afford. We are bascially treading water now, but to do the means test sometimes it says we have disposable income. Maybe its the 1st lawyer that has me so scared. I don't know. I have support from my family. I talk to my Mom everday but she is 8 hours away. We are here in PA by ourselves. This sucks

Sorry for rambling
Christine

[laurannm]

You said in an earlier post that you have more consultations scheduled, right?

[Mom2one]

Yes we are seeing another attorney on the 23rd.

Christine

[lrprn]

Is your hubby helping you at all?

More importantly, what is your LAWYER doing to help you?

No one can make you file if you don't want to. Signing the forms for a Ch 13 plan that you know from the onset can't be paid is the worst thing you can do.

Make an office appointment with your attorney and clearly explain that you can't afford the plan he/she has created. Go over the forms together to figure out what expenses may have been omitted or could be higher because your community averages more than you actually paid over the last six months (it's ok to 'tweak' figures within reason when filing Ch 13 - for example, it's not unusual to not buy clothing trying to save money before filing. You can't list zero as a clothing budget for five years.)

See what can be done. It's very hard to do that when you are absolutely at your wit's end (have an ADD daugher as well and our cat died within a month of filing....so very difficult to focus). You must try your hardest. You do NOT want to be tied by your own signature to a plan you KNOW you can't pay! Make your lawyer listen!

[laurannm]

Yes we are seeing another attorney on the 23rd.

Christine

Speaking from personal experience, up until a few days ago we had been stressed beyond all belief, primarily because we realized that we didn't 100% trust my lawyer and her expertise. We consulted with several more attorney's and found an attorney that we really like, that we feel comfortable with. That alone relieved a lot of stress.

I think once you find an attorney that you like and trust, even if your only option is a 13, you'll still feel better than you do now

And when you are interviewing attorney's, try to find one that will run a preliminary means test for you. Many lawyers we spoke with said we were a guaranteed 13 even without even looking at any of our expenses, etc. But I knew that wasn't necessarily the case, and we finally found a couple of lawyers who ran the means test as part of the consult for free

[Cali]

That was my 2nd thought.

More importantly, what is your LAWYER doing to help you?

[JRScott]

Try not to stress, I know its hard in the early stages of this process.

Keep seeing lawyers until you find one that you are comfortable with.

Never give up, never surrender

[Frogge]

I found a helpful link!

Mom2one, I found this thread regarding the 'taxes' line on the schedule that's very informative...

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=23075