Does this make sense?

[megadebt]

Hello Everyone

I am getting ready to file and came across this web site and I am amazed at the amount of info on here. I was hoping to get some feedback:

I had my initial consultation with a lawyer today (3rd consult I have bn on) who I felt very comfortable with. She seemed very knowledgable, had all of the credentials (member of the county bar association, member of National Association of Bankruptcy Attorney's, etc.) and I saw approx 20 cases on Pacer filed by her in 2008 alone (and many more over the course of the last couple of years).

At least initially, and without crunching the means test numbers, we are looking at a Chapter 13 given our high income. She mentioned something interesting that kind of took me by surprise. Lets say we enter into a plan in which we are essentially breaking even each month after basic living expenses. My wife does not work currently but according to this lawyer, it would be no problem if she started to work after the plan was submitted and confirmed, primarily because local trustees have never asked for tax returns or updated info, and typically any income increases are ok as long as they are under 10%. If this is the case, then if my wife went back to work, she could potentially be making $800-$1000\month take-home (probably closer to $800). Does this seem right? It seems odd to me that we could potentially end up with that much wiggle room in a Ch 13 budget. Granted, we would need to save and save some more for the unexpected things, but still...

Also, one thing I forg, evem ot to ask her is the fact that I just bought a new car in the past couple of weeks (nothing extravagant). Could a trustee object, even in a Ch 13, for buying a car so close to filing?

Thanks, and sorry for the remabling

[rrockinggramma]

making sure you have a good working vehicle that will make it through your plan without a lot of costly repairs is essential. I did it and it helps to relieve a lot of that stress. In the next 5 years of a plan, look at what might go wrong and it probably will Leaky roof, etc so not having an older car that you nurse through your plan is a good thing. You can't cram it down because of its newness but that is ok too. And it will help keep your payment down (disposable income) because of the payment outside of the plan. Your attorney knows your trustee the best. In my area, the trustee demanded tax returns every year and any refund received. Some trustee's are asking for the rebate check! So if you have a trustee that doesn't ask for that, then by all means, after confirmation, have your wife go back to work.

[seanf12]

That seems like a pretty good plan to me if the trustee will allow it

[megadebt]

Great point...the car I purchased should (cross my fingers) be good to go for while. However, my other car is a lease which will be up in 3 years, so I will have to deal with that down the road (which I am not sure what my options will be at that point).

Luckily our house is fairly new (10 years old), and in the past couple of years we've had our furnace and hot water tank replaced.

I've heard about some of the trustees in other areas...what a nightmare! I feel for you.

We are underwater on our house so we should be able to use our homestead exemption to cover this years tax returns and rebate check (minus lawyer fees) I believe.

Of course all of this may be moot.....hopefully we fall into a 7