new with ?s about IRA, allowable expenses

[ameliabedilia]

Hi all,
I just found this board a few weeks ago and it is SOO helpful! I had a consultation with a lawyer, but this board has more info for sure!
I have a few questions that I am still confused about and would love some advice

1. We cashed in a pretty small Roth IRA ($3700) about 5 months ago when we started really sinking. I am assuming I need to include that with my average monthly income. Even with this money we are still below the state median income level. Will this still be a problem as a red flag?

2. Our house payment is $200 over the allowed amount for our county, but we still end up with negative income after everything else is factored in. How big of a deal is this?

3. My husband was layed off this month. Should I put the unemployment amount in income or put it in the social security section and not count it as income? We are under the median with it, so I was wondering if there are any advantages/disadvantages regarding this.

4. We knew my husband was getting a bonus ($3000) in June and so while we were visiting my family my parents offered to watch the kids so the two of us went on a small road trip to Mexico- spent no more than $600 on it, and also bought some of our prescription meds for the year there, which were about 1/10th of the cost here, so trip probably cost $400 total. At this point we were also under the impression that he was going to be promoted and have a decent raise coming. We put most of the trip on one credit card. We paid all our card payments in the month of June, then found out in July that my husband was getting laid off. We quit paying cards in July. Even with the bonus we are still under the median income for our state. How big of a red flag is this?

We are considering going pro se as we have no assets really, so I am trying to do all the research first.
Thanks so much!
Amelia

[ameliabedilia]

one more question- if you put your security deposit on the forms, do they try to do anything with it? I would hate for my landlord to lose it now and myself to lose it when we move.

[familyof7]

no not usually. I listed mine and they did nothing.

[SinkingFast]

The Trustee can go after Security Deposits if they want to. Many States' Exemptions have a Code/Statute specifically written for Security Deposits. If not, you'll need to apply some sort of Exemption to your Security Deposit to be sure it's covered and the Trustee can't take it.

As attnys here told us many times,.......... Just explain it. At the time you did all those things, you were acting in good faith. You thought Hubby's job was Secure. No reason to believe you could not repay any charges you made at the time you made them.

The job loss falls under Totality of Circumstances. Things that happen that are beyond the Debtor's control. Death of a spouse, injury, disability, job loss. Those sorts of things. Totality of Circumstances is definitely a consideration for the Trustee and the BK Court.

[ameliabedilia]

Thanks so much! I really feel like it's a pretty clear cut case, but you never know what a trustee will think so I am trying to get as much info as possible. All the advice makes me feel alot less stressed out. I don't doubt that my husband will get a new job soon, and I will probably go back to work too, but it would be so much better to take the bankruptcy hit and be able to get a fresh start before this happens so we don't keep spinning our wheels.