CH 7 Pro Se...last ditch questions

[Grumpy2]

Well, I thought I was going to be able to just do nothing and settle credit cards over time. My employer gave me official notice that I had 30 days to correct my financial situation or lose ability to hold the position. (yes they CAN do that where I work)

I have about $700 available. Court fees are around $400, so that leaves me with some wiggle room. I already bought and read nolo's book on CH7. I have consulted with 4 different attorneys. At the end of the day, the lowest bidder was $1,000 I don't have plus court fees. I have already been collecting statements etc every month since last year and have it all ready to go with property values and everything.
Questions/Advice wanted:

1)bestcase is out of my budget for software as are the attorneys that have it...but I could use the free trial to prepare my forms. Would it be worth purchasing any of the other software programs in the under $200 category for peace of mind in form preparation and other issues or just use the freebie?

2) Is there a layman's list of court rules on the internet that would dictate the little things? (For example, if I file July 30th, do I have to include July's income?) or do I just need to pull this out of the reg myself?

3) Any recommendations on naming creditors when all accounts are in charged-off status and the buyers of the debt are yet unknown?

4) If my wife suffers from anxiety, would a notarized limited power of attorney allow me to act on her behalf and excuse her physical presence in all proceedings?

Otherwise, the CH7 petition itself is simple. No assets, no debt transactions in 9 months, and I am under the median. I am including the means test anyway, because it looks really bad financially.

Thanks! I know I have asked a lot of questions over the year+ leading up to this.

[justbroke]

I used an online service when I first filed and their software messed up a few forms. I purchased PDF editing software, Nitro Pro, for about $79. PDF editing software is a must have if you're manually preparing forms. There are free versions, but they are difficult to use.

I also used BestCase just to prepare my conversion and then edited the forms afterwards.

There are no layman's version of the rules. They are mostly plain language, if you ask me.

I can't answer the legal question on attending a 341 Meeting. It is specifically so the debtor can be "examined" under oath. There are cases where you can skip it, but it's for medical conditions... and I have never heard of an excuse other than being out of the country on military duty (actually deployed) or literally in a coma. You could file a Motion to Appear Telephonically (or in some other manner) to 341 Meeting and have the judge make a ruling. At least at a hearing, you can present evidence to support why a debtor can't appear in person. I can not tell you how successful that would be in this specific case (without a doctor saying that she's afraid of her own shadow) and whether a judge would grant a lack of examination of a debtor.