Finally ready to file within the next two weeks... couple questions.

[veloguy]

Just curious if anyone could give me some input on our situation as we're going to be filing Ch. 7 within the next two weeks.

Went 'cash only' around mid-August and then stopped paying CC bills mid-September. With that, I also decided to stop paying mortgage as well in Sept. as we decided to give up the house in BK, and there was no way I could affort to pay attorney, bills, household expenses, etc. while still paying full mortgage payment (mortage co. refused to take partial payment).

My concern now is if I might have an issue explaining to the trustee where my cash is going now that I'm not paying mortgage or CC's. The trail is apparent when looking at my bank statement; Supermarket, checks for household bills, gas, cash withdrawls (nothing more than $100 at a time), unexpected car repair this month, etc. It all makes sense to me, but will the trustee look at this and accuse us of fraud claiming that we have disposable income?

Also, unrelated concern.... Last month I changed my fed. income tax withholding to 10 assuming that the trustee is going to take our entire tax return anyway since it's the end of the year. It's given my about $45 additional net income each paycheck. In retrospect, I'm wondering if that was a bad idea as it'll look pretty obvious why I did it to the trustee, no?

Thanks in advance as any input would be appreciated.

[jp2861]

The trustee is going to look at your income schedule and your expense schedule. Example: If your income is $2,000 and your expense sheet only shows $1,500, yea you're going to be questioned. If you keep your expenses to within $100 or so you'll be fine. If you have a lawyer they'll get all those numbers squared away for you. If you're filing pro se, and you still have these types of questions, I would slow it down a little bit and start asking questions here.

Changing your withholding at this point in the year probably hurt you more than anything. It makes you have to account for that $45 in your current monthly income. I would have waitied until after I filed. It's not much, $45, but still another $45 that you have to show that you're spending (current monthly income). Also, it won't make much of a difference in your tax refund at this late stage of the year. Every trustee is different, but unless you have a refund over $1,000 the trustee probably won't see any point in wasting time with it.