All in all, it was a good meeting, I feel comfortable with my choice, but it's been a bit of a rollercoaster the last two days.
Basically, I went in there with a firm belief that I was going to have to file a Chapter 13. He was running late but came out between meetings and handed me a copy of the paperwork they drafted. He pointed out specifically Schedule J - Expenses and then the section with the Federal allocations from the means test so I could compare and make changes (i.e. up my expenses). It was really helpful.
I went over the paperwork, found some errors that were most likely made by the typist and marked some pages with questions. In some places my income was listed as what I gave for my 6 month lookback from January to June which included my bonus, and on others it was listed as what my income would be if the bonus wasnt included - about $300 less. My husband's OT was listed under my income as well.
We went into his office and went over it page by page. He noted the errors and then we started crunching numbers. Soon we were bringing up my expenses in totally legit ways he felt comfortable with to try and get me closer to a Chapter 7. I mentioned that if I could file in October then my bonus would fall off and my income would go down by just over $300. He was all for that. And then I mentioned that my husband was looking to buy a new car. He asked how much the payment would be and I said around $280.
He then told me if he buys the car, we're good. I said great - what does "we're good" mean? He said I could then file a Chapter 7. I left there on top of the moon.
Then, for some reason, while I was driving away I remembered that on Schedule I my Net was listed as what it would be without the bonus. I shot him and e-mail and he confirmed. Drats! So still $300 away.
He said that we would try and keep my 401k loan repayment deduction on the Schedule I and see if it would pass, but if the judge was feeling hornery they would discount it.
So I figured instead of getting the 16k car we were thinking about we'd up it to the 22k car which would up our payment to around $380. I'm getting closer to my Chapter 7.
So today I'm pulling together our new 6 month look back starting in April and I find ANOTHER error! They listed my withholding taxes at around $120 higher than what they actually are! So now we're another $120 off.
I shot my lawyer another e-mail tonite with the new calculations and I'll see what he says. Hopefully its just a matter of me changing my W-2 for the next couple months, but I doubt it.
Again, I do feel I made a good choice of attorney, and I know this is all just human error since I've worked for lawyers for 15+ years. I think the hardest part about these last couple days has been getting my hopes up so high to be able to file a Chapter 7 after resigning myself to a Chapter 13, and then having them crushed again.
Ah well, I'll see what the e-mail brings tomorrow.
Basically, I went in there with a firm belief that I was going to have to file a Chapter 13. He was running late but came out between meetings and handed me a copy of the paperwork they drafted. He pointed out specifically Schedule J - Expenses and then the section with the Federal allocations from the means test so I could compare and make changes (i.e. up my expenses). It was really helpful.
I went over the paperwork, found some errors that were most likely made by the typist and marked some pages with questions. In some places my income was listed as what I gave for my 6 month lookback from January to June which included my bonus, and on others it was listed as what my income would be if the bonus wasnt included - about $300 less. My husband's OT was listed under my income as well.
We went into his office and went over it page by page. He noted the errors and then we started crunching numbers. Soon we were bringing up my expenses in totally legit ways he felt comfortable with to try and get me closer to a Chapter 7. I mentioned that if I could file in October then my bonus would fall off and my income would go down by just over $300. He was all for that. And then I mentioned that my husband was looking to buy a new car. He asked how much the payment would be and I said around $280.
He then told me if he buys the car, we're good. I said great - what does "we're good" mean? He said I could then file a Chapter 7. I left there on top of the moon.
Then, for some reason, while I was driving away I remembered that on Schedule I my Net was listed as what it would be without the bonus. I shot him and e-mail and he confirmed. Drats! So still $300 away.
He said that we would try and keep my 401k loan repayment deduction on the Schedule I and see if it would pass, but if the judge was feeling hornery they would discount it.
So I figured instead of getting the 16k car we were thinking about we'd up it to the 22k car which would up our payment to around $380. I'm getting closer to my Chapter 7.
So today I'm pulling together our new 6 month look back starting in April and I find ANOTHER error! They listed my withholding taxes at around $120 higher than what they actually are! So now we're another $120 off.
I shot my lawyer another e-mail tonite with the new calculations and I'll see what he says. Hopefully its just a matter of me changing my W-2 for the next couple months, but I doubt it.
Again, I do feel I made a good choice of attorney, and I know this is all just human error since I've worked for lawyers for 15+ years. I think the hardest part about these last couple days has been getting my hopes up so high to be able to file a Chapter 7 after resigning myself to a Chapter 13, and then having them crushed again.
Ah well, I'll see what the e-mail brings tomorrow.
Comment