Sons income ??

[klandsb]

I am trying to fill out all the paperwork to return to the lawyers office..
I spoke with my caseworker yesterday. My son who lives with me makes approx $950 a mth after taxes. His expenses like cell phone, motorcycle pmts, car & motorcylce insurance are approx $450 which means he has $500 a mth leftover. However, he contributes $0 to live here unless I just dont have the money to pay one of the utilities then he will chip in. I make a little over the median and can afford daily living expenses its just those darn credit card pmts that skyrocketed, a few late pmts here and there and now I just dont have the money for the min pmts anymore. ($800.00 mth)
Anyway, she told me to just write on a piece of paper his expenses & income
(no need for paystubs she says) and the trustee is ok with that.
It would be great to have the 2 person household on the means test but with him contributing nothing I am affraid the trustee is going to have a problem with that ... Has anyone else had experience with this ?????

[lrprn]

It would be great to have the 2 person household on the means test but with him contributing nothing I am affraid the trustee is going to have a problem with that ... Has anyone else had experience with this ?????

Our 21-year-old daughter was living with us full time before we filed. She contributed $150/month to our household, and paid the rest of her own bills herself. Our lawyer added her full income to ours for the income determination in the first part of the Means Test, then later on the Means Test he subtracted out everything that she earned other than the $150/month contribution to running the household.

We asked our lawyer what would have happened if she had contributed $0 to our household. He told us that he would have added in and then subtracted out all her income, leaving only our husband/wife income on the forms.

Trustees cannot force your adult children to contribute more - or to contribute at all - to the household. The trustee also can't force a filing spouse that is staying home with children to go to work either. No worries for you on that front.

[klandsb]

Irprn. Thanks so much for the response... There are so many things to figure out while u are getting all this paperwork together. I search for an hour trying to find all his paystubs for the last six mths. (u know 20 yr olds) then when I talked to her she said no I wont need them . ughhh.. good for me but all that searching for notta ...

[optimistic1]

income from all sources that the debtor receives (or in a joint case the debtor and the debtor’s spouse receive) without regard to whether such income is taxable income, derived during the 6-month period ending on—
(i) the last day of the calendar month immediately preceding the date of the commencement of the case if the debtor files the schedule of current income required by section 521 (a)(1)(B)(ii); or
(ii) the date on which current income is determined by the court for purposes of this title if the debtor does not file the schedule of current income required by section 521 (a)(1)(B)(ii); and
(B) includes any amount paid by any entity other than the debtor (or in a joint case the debtor and the debtor’s spouse), on a regular basis for the household expenses of the debtor or the debtor’s dependents (and in a joint case the debtor’s spouse if not otherwise a dependent), but excludes benefits received under the Social Security Act, payments to victims of war crimes or crimes against humanity on account of their status as victims of such crimes, and payments to victims of international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of title 18) or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of title 18) on account of their status as victims of such terrorism.



If he contributes nothing, then it makes no sense to add in his income, it only shows you are being honest, but if you are still providing a roof over his head, running water, electricity, etc., you most likely can increase your household size to 2. However case law suggests that if a trustee objects to this, the court may rule in his favor, but it is worth a shot.

In a typical family, you include yourself, your spouse and the children you could claim under the IRS dependency test. But often there are unique situations which raise questions as to the allowable household size. Bankruptcy Courts have recently ruled on some of these cases as follows:

1) A Louisiana Court held that a debtor can not claim an unborn child as a household member. duh!Ah, hah, the debtors provided "support" for them, what type of support, who knows, to me providing a roof over their head, food in the fridge, running water, is support.



You could easily add his income in, and subtract it out completely as the previous poster suggested.

Either way, just have your paperwork filled out in favor of you, and wait for objections.

[klandsb]

Thanks optimistic1.... You put alot of time and effort into that response and I greatly appreciate it...I have my fingers crossed that I have a good attorney.. Its kinda hard when you meet with them for an hour and then try and decide which one best fits your needs . I met with one that was a NO after about 15 minutes of talking to him, another one was ok, but he seemed really rushed and disorganized, so this one, well he looked me in the eye when he talked to me , went thru the figures and seemed to know what he was doing... Time will tell...

[optimistic1]

Thanks optimistic1.... You put alot of time and effort into that response and I greatly appreciate it...I have my fingers crossed that I have a good attorney.. Its kinda hard when you meet with them for an hour and then try and decide which one best fits your needs . I met with one that was a NO after about 15 minutes of talking to him, another one was ok, but he seemed really rushed and disorganized, so this one, well he looked me in the eye when he talked to me , went thru the figures and seemed to know what he was doing... Time will tell...

I know the feeling, I interviewed more than a dozen, fired one, and now nothing.

My response didnt take much time, I have the bk code in my favorites, and am good with search engines, oh and copy paste.

Good luck to you.