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Pending May 22 Layoff

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    Pending May 22 Layoff

    My husband has worked for LM since Feb. 25 of 2019. He received notification that due to funding cuts, his current job will end on May 22. He then will receive a one time lump sum payment amounting to six weeks severance pay. I assume our health care insurance will end that day as well. In the documentation it says the severance might not be paid until March 31, 2021 which is scary and may mean he will have to apply for immediate unemployment benefits if they can with hold his final check for that long. He has been applying for jobs for about two weeks already and is not seeing much local interest. He applied in Connecticut, which appears to have a lower housing cost, although other things are comparable or a little higher (like transportation and food). The trade off is the ability to travel to some really cool and interesting nearby cities and states by car and not having to fly to reach more exciting places that are six or more hours away by car. Also, we would be back in a more humid landscape at sea level which would probably help my muscular inflammation and joint pain.
    Of course this is not where we wanted to go when we were able to leave Co. in 2022 but until the BK13 ends, it might have to do! We are not sure if any relo package is offered.
    We are supposed to have a $75,000 homesteader exemption in our state which should mean the trustee can't just take all the money if we have to sell the house due to a job relocation. According to recent home value estimates, we may have that much equity built up already. Of course we are in the middle of an economic resession and health pandemic which may not end until 2022 or when ever a vaccine is implemented. Which means our house may already be underwater. It is clearly too soon to tell.
    Our mortgage is increasing yet again to more than $2300 and with the iron clad solar panel lease that's more than $2400 a month! The stimulus money ($2400) will buy us one month of mortgage payments, which would delay the start of late payments until June/ July (provided no severance is promptly paid) and then of course foreclosure begins three months after that which in turn means bk13 is no longer feasible. (Bk7?) My husband can't really take a huge pay cut and continue to pay both the trustee and the mortgage. Moving to an apartment wouldn't save us anything and would mean we might end up in a high crime risk area.
    We are truly frightened that the only way out of here and this situation is another rip off for us!
    Last edited by Barbisi; 04-17-2020, 12:12 PM.

    #2
    Barbisi - I'm so sorry for what I'm reading. Maybe, just maybe there could be a small possibility the layoff notice could be rescinded if your state starts opening things up before then??? As for your mortgage, check with your loan holder to see if you can get a deferral plan. Depending on the mortgage you have you may be able to defer payments for up to 1 year. It's better to look into that now, then waiting for the hammer to come down. If things get better, you can stop the deferment. And if you were to take one, you could look at possibly going somewhere else and trying to sell your home during that time. I don't know how things are in Colorado but the prices are still staying steady here in WA state. I expect that to change, but it hasn't so far. Also, if necessary, you can speak to your attorney about adding more time on your plan since that was one of the items in the CARES act....5 year plans can be extended to 7. I know that thought is not what you want to do..but you may have to do what is necessary to cut your expenses and get through what's going on. Just things to think about. I'm sending all my positive thoughts your way in hopes things can work out for you.
    Filed Chapter 13 - 07/20/12
    Discharged 8/2/16

    Comment


      #3
      Thank you sophieanne for all your positive thoughts!
      We haven't contacted the lawyer because there is of course still a possibility that he could find a similarly paying job, and because there is of course a possibility that the lawyer and /or trustee could be unreachable because of Covid-19. Because of this, it might not be possible to amend or convert the BK13 even if we had to. Those options just might exist now.
      He will continue to do his current job until may 22, while looking both in Colorado and other states for job opportunities that match his skill set.
      I feel the timing of this likely layoff is very poor executed and may or may not be tied to the country's current woes. If this hadn't happened, I'm sure we could have finished the BK. Now who knows?
      There are always jobs with poor benefits that he can settle on to get by. But when does that end? Knuckling under and settling is all we ever do in Colorado and we are fed up with nothing but bad luck and ten years of progressively worse setbacks. Everybody deserves a break with hope for the future instead of accepting a lifetime of failure with no way forward.

      Of course he could try to drive two hours a day at a no benefit contractor job if he could earn enough to pay for our insurance, the trustee and the mortgage and maybe leave as soon as our BK13 ends in 2022 and try to put the house up for sale if we are allowed. (Not sure if we could qualify now for any mortgage forbearance because of BK13. )
      If we have to let the house go now, there is zero reason to be in this bk13 because it will mean we don't have the funds to likely move and even pay rent and we may not have enough to pay the trustee. That is why moving to a cheaper state with relo where my husband can have a well paying job sounds appealing, even though this lock down may continue for the rest of the year.( Stretching the bk13 payments for two more years until 2024 won't help if he can't find a decent paying job with benefits.)
      The only reason he hadn't tried to find a job out of state before is that he was trying to pay the mortgage until the BK13 ended. If we can't keep paying the mortgage so we can end up with some real equity and money , then there's no reason to stay here.
      Last edited by Barbisi; 04-17-2020, 02:50 PM.

      Comment


        #4
        @barbsi ...lots of details to work through..I just hope everything works out in your best interest...
        Filed Chapter 13 - 07/20/12
        Discharged 8/2/16

        Comment


        • Barbisi
          Barbisi commented
          Editing a comment
          Thank you sophieanne , I hope so too! But I don't know what's in our best interest any more, besides leaving Colorado!

        #5
        Barbisi I am so sorry to hear about your husband's job. Sending good thoughts and prayers that a job opportunity opens up. Please to contact your attorney maybe they can give you some advice on how to best handle the situation.

        My husband and I are both "essential workers" so we still have jobs. I haven't had work on my second job since they are limiting the people allowed in the building, it's also risky to have people working in one nursing home also working in another nursing home (can spread germs from one place to another) as well as if I worked on my second job and inadvertently was exposed to Covid19 then I would have to quarantine myself at home for 2 weeks! So our income is down right after my second job had just started to use me more frequently after the decrease in hours at the end of last year! Luckily we do not have Covid19 in our facility, but I fear it's just a matter of time before it happens. I don't know if we can be lucky enough NOT to have any cases since the nursing homes are very high risk. My young adult daughter is able to work from home, but has suffered a 7% pay cut--hopefully as things get better her pay will go back up. Fortunately her job has a few large clients on retainer so they have work to keep them going.
        I am not an expert. I just share my experiences in the Wonderful Wacky World of Chapter 13! Filed 3-30-18 Confirmed 7-11-18 Discharged 6-8-22

        Comment


          #6
          Thank you Carmella for your thoughts and prayers!
          I hadn't forgotten about you guys braving the front lines of this awful pandemic, I was just in a ranting mood!
          I pray you and your husband stay safe and uninfected. For a software engineer like my husband and a prematurely retired actress, singer and VO artist like me, both under almost complete lock down it would take some thing truly horrific to put us in the front lines of danger.
          For what you are risking you should be getting nothing less than substantial hazard pay and hopefully your daughter will be compensated for the pay cut.
          May we all survive this medical and economic nightmare!

          Comment


            #7
            @Barbisi,

            I've followed your BR journey over the 2+ years, and I truly feel for you and your husband. I know you've been very unhappy in Colorado, and now your husband's job loss right in the middle of your 13 plan just seems like piling on; hopefully this will turn out to be a positive for you in some way.

            As others have already stated, maybe you could get a conversion to 7 and be done with this ordeal. My thoughts and prayers for you that it all turns out positively. Wishing you the best.

            Comment


              #8
              Thank you for your very understanding and compassionate post VolFan!
              Yes, these three plus years have been nothing short of a nightmarish ordeal and I sometimes wish we could just convert to a 7 and be done for forever! But,as long as my husband has comparable employment, I doubt the bankruptcy court would permit it. And if we are allowed to sell the house in 2022 with out limits or court restrictions and the housing market is not in a 2008 free fall, we should have substantial equity.
              The reason the Great Recession didn't affect us at all was because we were renters with a stable income. Now we are homeowners in an active BK13 with a likely looming job loss - not an enviable position to be in!

              Comment


                #9
                Barbisi Sorry to hear about your latest latest woes.

                I would not assume your lawyer and trustee are hiding in a cave. The trustee is definitely working hard right now and hopefully your lawyer is active too.

                If you have a good BK lawyer, he will tell you to contact him ASAP when you get wind that you might be missing a mortgage or trustee payment. The attorney has the current pulse of your trustee as well. Meaning your attorney will know how quick on the draw the trustee will be to file a motion to dismiss during this crisis. If you don't ghost your attorney and your attorney is not ghosting you, you can usually get more time before the motion to dismiss. You also incur legal fees in your plan if the motion to dismiss has to be defended so it's best if the lawyer and trustee are talking about your case informally if you're trying to save it. Another reason to contact your lawyer ASAP is to discuss alternative options such as going to a 7 and how to deal with the house.

                I would have the hubby look for any job within LM nationwide and take whatever is offered no matter how crappy the destination is. I believe finding a job within LM may be the best chance to stay employed. I've seen lists of companies supposedly hiring during the crisis, but I don't know firsthand how believable those lists are especially for an older software engineer subject to age discrimination.

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