He had our final Consult Thursday afternoon. We are done going to attorney's offices. Turns out the guy who didn't want a face to face after phone consults until we had our tax situation settled is a decent guy.
They had notes from our previous conversations so they were up to speed on who we are. First question the attny asked was, did we have our tax issues settled. Yep. He asked how that worked. We said we got a small refund from one state. Where'd that money go? To pay the other state. Then we sold our truck to pay the IRS. He asked if all the taxes were filed and paid. Yep.
Then he asked if we had any questions. Right off the top, we wanted to know how to deal with our Landlord. You might remember that she sent us the bill for cleaning out the sewer line the last time and expected us to pay her for it.
Well, she upped the ante. Wednesday, we got a Certified letter telling us we are to now contact some property management company instead of her. Mail our payments there, etc. The letter also stated we had 5 days from receipt of the letter to pay the $250 or "alternate action would be taken". I don't know if that means she'll sue us or evict us or both.
The attny said MOVE. He said the longer we stay here, the greater our risk of being blamed for more problems with the house. He said what he'll do is file our BK with our CC debts, then he'll amend the petition pre 341 to include the landlord. That would include the $250 repair bill, any unpaid rents, and he'll pad for unstated, as yet undetermined damages as well.
We learned some interesting things. The Court here is looking at $100/mo disposable income. If you have $100/mo left over, the Court is gonna make you go Ch 13. They now have a way to include the expenses for ownership and operation of a 3rd vehicle. It's still not in the Means Test, but the paralegal said she's found a way to do it and it's legit.
The one computer, one TV, one VCR, having to itemize children's things applies to Fed Exemptions the attny said. When we were to list our household goods, since we're using State exemptions, we were to consider areas of the house that are common family use. What's in the children's rooms is the children's property the attny said.
The attny also said to use Goodwill and other Second Hand type store pricing. Not Fire Sale/Yard Sale values, unless we can't find a comp available otherwise. I told him about the Goodwill auction site and some of the prices I'd seen there. He asked if Goodwill has a base starting price. I said Yep. He said fine. We could use that. But then the paralegal, when we were doing the paperwork, said they would probably boost the value of our Household goods up closer to the limit of our exemption, just so it wouldn't look like we were trying to undervalue our things to the Court.
The paralegal told us it would take about 10 days or so for her to copy all our docs, sort thru and enter all the data, and verify things. Then they would have us come in and read over the petitions to look for errors and such. If need be, she'd make corrections, then they'd prepare the final docs, we'd sign and they'd file. It should all be done by April 15 at the latest.
We went into the expandable file folder I've been carrying around. We had almost everything with us that they needed to have on file incase we get audited. You shoulda seen the stack of papers. Mortgage, lease, utilities bills, bank statements, pay stubs, evidences of income, CC statements, letters from CC companies, etc, etc, etc.
We didn't have, and they did need, a copy of a statement from our Mortgage Lender showing the principal balance due. We'd been paying on line, so we hadn't been receiving monthly statements. Since we quit paying our payments, we cannot access our info on-line. They also needed info on our Renter's insurance and auto insurance policies. We'd also forgotten to list what we'd spent on firewood in our expenses, and we forgot to add the piano to our list of household goods.
Yesterday morning, I called the insurance agent's office and asked them for a print-out about our renter's and our auto policies. I couldn't find any of that stuff. Immediately after I called, I found our auto policies. But I didn't call back. I just decided to pick up the paperwork anyway. Especially for the Renter's info. Good thing I did. The insurance agent gave me a nice printout that showed coverages, dates of payments, and all activity on our acct. with them. Also showed the date prepared and the agent's ID number as well.
I spent the rest of the morning collecting up the remaining docs they needed to have on file. When the mail came, there were several notes from CC companies. Threw those in the pile as well. And a letter from our Mortgage Lender. Then I took some time to call around about rental properties. We came up with one very nice sounding house, great location, keeps the girls in the same school district, so I made an appointment to see it.
Countrywide is going to start Foreclosure soon. The paperwork they sent not only showed the payment amount due, but they'd also included our escrow history for all of 2005, and a payment history for all of 2005 as well. What a gift. Everything the attny needed in one, nice, neat, and tidy package.
Yesterday afternoon, we spent 3 hours in the car. We ran to the bank to deposit Hubby's paycheck. I'd written the attny a check for payment in full Thursday afternoon but had an odd feeling about it. Got home, checked on-line. The check would bounce. We were about $100 short. I forgot I'd grocery shopped and we'd bought a tank of gas. First call Fri morning was to the attny's office to ask them to hold deposit on that check. I explained that Hubby got paid and the money would be available today. She was OK with that. Said they'd just deposit the check on Monday instead. Phew!
Ran by the auto insurance agent's office and picked up the paperwork. Ran to the attny's office and dropped off paperwork. Then went to look at houses. We found one!! Gonna meet with the Landlord today to sign the lease and pay security deposit and such. We're gonna pay for the last half of April to give us 2 weeks to move in, and start our lease on May 1. Rent is close to the same so no problem with I and J there.
I pray this all works out. I am not comfortable leaving this house. We said we'd stay here a year. We were raised when you give your word, it's a contract. You abide by it. My conscious says that's what we should do regardless of how the Landlord acts. But my logical mind knows the attny is right. Every day we stay here is a risk for us with this Landlord.
Cross your fingers, your toes, your eyes for us. The ticket has been punched and the ride has started. Now the fun really begins!!
They had notes from our previous conversations so they were up to speed on who we are. First question the attny asked was, did we have our tax issues settled. Yep. He asked how that worked. We said we got a small refund from one state. Where'd that money go? To pay the other state. Then we sold our truck to pay the IRS. He asked if all the taxes were filed and paid. Yep.
Then he asked if we had any questions. Right off the top, we wanted to know how to deal with our Landlord. You might remember that she sent us the bill for cleaning out the sewer line the last time and expected us to pay her for it.
Well, she upped the ante. Wednesday, we got a Certified letter telling us we are to now contact some property management company instead of her. Mail our payments there, etc. The letter also stated we had 5 days from receipt of the letter to pay the $250 or "alternate action would be taken". I don't know if that means she'll sue us or evict us or both.
The attny said MOVE. He said the longer we stay here, the greater our risk of being blamed for more problems with the house. He said what he'll do is file our BK with our CC debts, then he'll amend the petition pre 341 to include the landlord. That would include the $250 repair bill, any unpaid rents, and he'll pad for unstated, as yet undetermined damages as well.
We learned some interesting things. The Court here is looking at $100/mo disposable income. If you have $100/mo left over, the Court is gonna make you go Ch 13. They now have a way to include the expenses for ownership and operation of a 3rd vehicle. It's still not in the Means Test, but the paralegal said she's found a way to do it and it's legit.
The one computer, one TV, one VCR, having to itemize children's things applies to Fed Exemptions the attny said. When we were to list our household goods, since we're using State exemptions, we were to consider areas of the house that are common family use. What's in the children's rooms is the children's property the attny said.
The attny also said to use Goodwill and other Second Hand type store pricing. Not Fire Sale/Yard Sale values, unless we can't find a comp available otherwise. I told him about the Goodwill auction site and some of the prices I'd seen there. He asked if Goodwill has a base starting price. I said Yep. He said fine. We could use that. But then the paralegal, when we were doing the paperwork, said they would probably boost the value of our Household goods up closer to the limit of our exemption, just so it wouldn't look like we were trying to undervalue our things to the Court.
The paralegal told us it would take about 10 days or so for her to copy all our docs, sort thru and enter all the data, and verify things. Then they would have us come in and read over the petitions to look for errors and such. If need be, she'd make corrections, then they'd prepare the final docs, we'd sign and they'd file. It should all be done by April 15 at the latest.
We went into the expandable file folder I've been carrying around. We had almost everything with us that they needed to have on file incase we get audited. You shoulda seen the stack of papers. Mortgage, lease, utilities bills, bank statements, pay stubs, evidences of income, CC statements, letters from CC companies, etc, etc, etc.
We didn't have, and they did need, a copy of a statement from our Mortgage Lender showing the principal balance due. We'd been paying on line, so we hadn't been receiving monthly statements. Since we quit paying our payments, we cannot access our info on-line. They also needed info on our Renter's insurance and auto insurance policies. We'd also forgotten to list what we'd spent on firewood in our expenses, and we forgot to add the piano to our list of household goods.
Yesterday morning, I called the insurance agent's office and asked them for a print-out about our renter's and our auto policies. I couldn't find any of that stuff. Immediately after I called, I found our auto policies. But I didn't call back. I just decided to pick up the paperwork anyway. Especially for the Renter's info. Good thing I did. The insurance agent gave me a nice printout that showed coverages, dates of payments, and all activity on our acct. with them. Also showed the date prepared and the agent's ID number as well.
I spent the rest of the morning collecting up the remaining docs they needed to have on file. When the mail came, there were several notes from CC companies. Threw those in the pile as well. And a letter from our Mortgage Lender. Then I took some time to call around about rental properties. We came up with one very nice sounding house, great location, keeps the girls in the same school district, so I made an appointment to see it.
Countrywide is going to start Foreclosure soon. The paperwork they sent not only showed the payment amount due, but they'd also included our escrow history for all of 2005, and a payment history for all of 2005 as well. What a gift. Everything the attny needed in one, nice, neat, and tidy package.
Yesterday afternoon, we spent 3 hours in the car. We ran to the bank to deposit Hubby's paycheck. I'd written the attny a check for payment in full Thursday afternoon but had an odd feeling about it. Got home, checked on-line. The check would bounce. We were about $100 short. I forgot I'd grocery shopped and we'd bought a tank of gas. First call Fri morning was to the attny's office to ask them to hold deposit on that check. I explained that Hubby got paid and the money would be available today. She was OK with that. Said they'd just deposit the check on Monday instead. Phew!
Ran by the auto insurance agent's office and picked up the paperwork. Ran to the attny's office and dropped off paperwork. Then went to look at houses. We found one!! Gonna meet with the Landlord today to sign the lease and pay security deposit and such. We're gonna pay for the last half of April to give us 2 weeks to move in, and start our lease on May 1. Rent is close to the same so no problem with I and J there.
I pray this all works out. I am not comfortable leaving this house. We said we'd stay here a year. We were raised when you give your word, it's a contract. You abide by it. My conscious says that's what we should do regardless of how the Landlord acts. But my logical mind knows the attny is right. Every day we stay here is a risk for us with this Landlord.
Cross your fingers, your toes, your eyes for us. The ticket has been punched and the ride has started. Now the fun really begins!!
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