Hello
I was curios if other people had to use their disposable income from schedules i and j when coming up with their payment to the trustee. My disposable income using the irs figures was significantly less than my actual expenditures. In my case these forms were only used to see if I qualified for a chapter 7. I severely underinflated my actual expenses mostly due to the fact that I did not have good records of expenses prior to my filing. My trustee also used my wifes and I last 2 pay stubs 1 week prior to the confirmation hearing and ignored the 6 month average. Especially if their is a large gap of time between filing and confirmation. So dont think that if you filed and the 6 months average was lower, because off summers off, illness etc. that this is what you will use. My advice to new filers would be to document your expenses and think hard about what you are going to put on theses schedules and try to be conservative. I forgot about school lunches, holiday gifts, filed trips, haircuts, cleaning supplies etc. etc. It is hard to think of everything when your going through this process however those schedules shape how you live for the next three to five years so pay attention prior to filing and write down EVERYTHING you spend for a couple of months. Dont worry your lawyer and/ or trustee will let you know if it is not necessary or to high prior to confirmation so dont be afraid to list it on the schedules. Fortunately I got a small salary increase after confirmation that probably washes out my forgotten expenses, but looking back I wish I would have paid more attention to these schedules. Any Thoughts?
I was curios if other people had to use their disposable income from schedules i and j when coming up with their payment to the trustee. My disposable income using the irs figures was significantly less than my actual expenditures. In my case these forms were only used to see if I qualified for a chapter 7. I severely underinflated my actual expenses mostly due to the fact that I did not have good records of expenses prior to my filing. My trustee also used my wifes and I last 2 pay stubs 1 week prior to the confirmation hearing and ignored the 6 month average. Especially if their is a large gap of time between filing and confirmation. So dont think that if you filed and the 6 months average was lower, because off summers off, illness etc. that this is what you will use. My advice to new filers would be to document your expenses and think hard about what you are going to put on theses schedules and try to be conservative. I forgot about school lunches, holiday gifts, filed trips, haircuts, cleaning supplies etc. etc. It is hard to think of everything when your going through this process however those schedules shape how you live for the next three to five years so pay attention prior to filing and write down EVERYTHING you spend for a couple of months. Dont worry your lawyer and/ or trustee will let you know if it is not necessary or to high prior to confirmation so dont be afraid to list it on the schedules. Fortunately I got a small salary increase after confirmation that probably washes out my forgotten expenses, but looking back I wish I would have paid more attention to these schedules. Any Thoughts?
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