Stressed out about filing

[daniellep]

I have lived and worked in another country for a good while and I will be coming home soon. I will have to live with my parents because I have no job and debt to take care of from when I was young and stupid. I took a former employer to work over an illegal dismissal. I was on a labor injunction for about 2 years (there is a tax issue here, but I have decided to let a lawyer handle it) and ended up settling. But, alas! Here is my problem: I will have virtually nothing to show for it!

- Almost all the money I got is gone because the standard of living is much higher here than in the US.
- I had to use the money to buy furniture, a computer for school and work and a few other things almost a year ago becuase I didn't have anything.
- Out of the last settlement payment, I will be lucky to hobble away with $1000-2000 of which I will need for lawyer's fees and living expenses for he first month while I look for a job (I'll live at home)--originally I thought it would be $5000-7500, but due to unexpected expenses and a really bad exchange rate, I won't come anywhere close to it.

I realize that my adjusted tax statement will look like I have a lot more money than I do. Is the trustee going to try and raise objections over the discrepency? What if I have cash on hand, but necessary expenses as well? Is the trustee going to want me to hand it over?

[Minnymouth]

Cash on hand the day you file the Trustee can take unless you can exempt it...

Sounds like you need to speak to an attorney and find out what options are available too you.....

See what the attorney (free consultation) tells you and get back with us...

[SinkingFast]

Attnys have told us to get the money outa the Bank. Spend it on necessary things. Use money orders and cashier's checks so the money leaves the bank acct immediately. Not to have any more than $20 or so on hand, each, at the time we actually file. The Trustee can take any cash monies that are available that you cannot exempt in some way or other.

Our income from the last 2 years looks big on paper too. Hubby got a decent severance package in 2004. But we paid COBRA payments ($850, and then $900/mo) for 8 months and supported 2 households for a year. During the fall 2005, our house payments, utilities, and maintenance for a guy to mow ran us around $2000/mo and we weren't even living there. The house is sitting vacant, on the market, for sale. The savings from the severance finally ran out. We cashed out an IRA in 2005. But, we used the money to pay off a 2nd mortgage that we had on our home. Those are just the big bills. That doesn't count glasses and contacts for kids, oral surgeries, emergency room visits, etc.

Since we've reached the end of our rope, we've learned we coulda saved ourselves a lot of money. If we had chatted with an attny a year ago, we'd still have the IRA. That money would have been protected in the BK. And both mortgages coulda been discharged in the BK. We were killing ourselves just trying to do the right thing and pay our bills.

Minny is right. Make some appointments. Consult with some attnys. You'll learn a lot with each one as you go along.

[StaciMM]

One question to ask when you interview attorneys: based on the fact that you have lived out of the country-which exemptions do you use to file? My guess is you would use federal, and if so, you can exempt a decent amount of cash under a 'wild card' so if you have money that is going to expenses, it won't be such an issue. (If you're filing with state exemptions, it depends on the state.)

[Minnymouth]

Also be very carefull about withdrawing large sums of money out of savings or checking account a few days before filing...... Trustee will go after it anyways unless you show receipts where it went.......

Its called "withdrawing to hide assets" in bankruptcy.

If your bank is in a foreign country, I would say "don't sweat it"...... get money orders, cash, cashiers checks, etc.

If bank is in this country, just be careful.....

[SinkingFast]

One question to ask when you interview attorneys: based on the fact that you have lived out of the country-which exemptions do you use to file? My guess is you would use federal, and if so, you can exempt a decent amount of cash under a 'wild card' so if you have money that is going to expenses, it won't be such an issue. (If you're filing with state exemptions, it depends on the state.)

That was a big go around for us yesterday in the Consult. Length of residency issues. Hubby was fine, but they had to make sure I had been here 180 days. I have. Not a problem there for us.

Might be an issue for you, tho. You are supposed to live in a location at least 180 days prior to filing. You have to use the exemptions from the state you lived in for 730 days, or 2 years, prior to that. If you cannot use exemptions from your old state or new state for whatever reason, such as living out of the country, then you get the Federal exemptions.

Check with attnys, but I think you are gonna have to be in the States for 6 months before you can file. I may be wrong, so be sure to check that out.

[daniellep]

Well, I am running into a lot of little issues, but basically, I have lived in another country for almost 8 years. I don't own any real estate at all in the US. I will have to file under the federal exemptions. From what I understand, I will be able to take the 1/2 the homestead exemption and apply it to cash and assets. According to my calculations, the exemptions are more than enough for me. I have bank accounts in the US with very little in them. My accounts abroad will all be shut down.

Also, will the trustees and judge understand the kind of expenses I have here, being that this is one of the most expensive places in the world to live? I am trying to find some actual official figures, but it's really kind of hard to find them. If I have to live in the US for 180 days prior to filing,can I still use the federal exemptions when I am ready? It would really help me out. My state's exemptions are going to be really bad.

I spoke to an attorney briefly over the phone while I was there and he asked me what I had, I told him about the furniture, TV, DVD player, etc. and he politely cut me off and said,"Ah, I wouldn't worry about it. You should be fine."