Please help!

[Leia27]

Im new to the forum thing so bare with me please!

Here is our situation. My husband has been laid off since october. I have been off work due to complications in my pregnancy. (I have now had the baby12/30 and we are all healthy!!) Since we had a huge cut in our income we have fell behind with our mortgage and it is now going into foreclosure. We have also fell behind on some credit cards and medical bills. We are looking into bankruptcy and meet with an attorney on the 28th. Is there anything we should know going into all this. We have credit has always been so good. I hate that everything has gotten so out of hand. We are confused and dont know where to turn. Thanks in advance for any tips!!!

[keepmine]

First thing I'd suggest is not be in a hurry to file bk. You have nothing anyone can take so no need for urgency.
I'd wait and make sure all complications from the pregancy are behind you so you don't have any outstanding medical bills post bk.
I'd encourage your husband to take any sort of job while he's looking for work in his field. WalMart, MacDonalds-doesn't matter-you need some income rolling in. Also, file your tax return ASAP. Spend it before you file.If your lawyer can't exempt it, you could lose it to the trustee.

[Flamingo]

Educate yourself with the BK "Stickys" in this forum under the forum threads (i.e., Chapter 7, Chapter 13). You need to figure out if you are heading back to work and if your husband will be able to get another job. You will eventually need cash flow of some sort because all the BK can do is wipe out part or all of your debts depending on your financial situation. It will not help you afterwards if you have no money coming in.

[Woah]

A new baby! Congratulations! I'm glad to hear you are all healthy. I'm no expert on BK, I just filed in Oct, but I do know about how fast things can get out of hand. Try to keep your spirits up and nerves calm!

DH and I waited 15 years to have our first child so we would be somewhat "ready" and stable. We both had good jobs making good money. We built a modest but nice house and had one vehicle paid off. Had money saved and the nursery decorated. He got laid off 2 months after I found out I was pregnant and about 3 months after I had baby my job in real estate tanked. We went through all our savings trying to get his business up and running since he couldn't find employment that was comparable to what he had before. Every day it amazes me that we have let ourselves get into this situation, but, here we are filed for bk and have to get out of the house by mid February.

All that said, I just wanted you to know you are not alone. My little guy is just over a year. I know how stressing the sleepless nights up with feedings can be let alone with financial stress too. Just try to stay calm and take care of yourself. Read all you can and don't jump into bk too soon. Keepmine is right, you never know in the coming months if you will incur medical expenses that might need to be included in the bk. Do you have insurance?

I wish I had found this forum before I filed. We did not "plan" for our bk and I now wish we had. You can lear a lot by reading the posts here regularly.

Good Luck!

[Never_Again]

I agree with Flamingo...

Bankruptcy will not fix the income issue. In addition to planning for bankruptcy, you need to plan to emerge from it and without income, that could be difficult.

Timing of a bankruptcy can be critical, as when the husband gets a new job, that has a comparable income, you will want to file before the six month lookback income average is too high.

In the mean time, any job (or two or three) that pays an income will help out considerably. That is part of the planning.

[Leia27]

Thanks so much for all your support and tips! My husband does have one part time job and is looking into getting another and Im looking for a job also. We are going to do whatever we have to to get through this. Boy do I wish I never got credit cards. Those are really killing us. I was able to get the medical card for me and the boys so we do have health insurance now. This is all so scary. Im so happy that I found this forum!