? for mymymy

[lilkim]

hi my, i was wondering if you could ease my mind a bit.

i am in the process of filing BK7 my husband and i both have 401k loans that are being taking out of our weekly paychecks, i owe like 900.00 on mine and they are taking 32.00 weekly to pay it back.
my husband owes like 2000.00 on his and they are taking about 14.00 a week from his check to pay it back.
my ? is will that make a difference in our case?

1 more ?... as long as we are up tp date on our payments they can not take our home/land can they?

thanks for any advice and help. i am a nervous wreck over this whole thing, i never thought it would come down to this.

[lilkim]

also, i only owe 100.00 more to my lawyer but it will be 2 more weeks before i can pay this, will it be to late to file seeing that the new bk laws are coming into play?

thanks again!!

[mymymy]

ok, first things first. Do your state or federal exemption laws allow the 401K to be exempted? In other words, are you listing your 401k's on Schedule C? If you can, then we're off to a great start.

Your amounts are small so I don't think it will be a problem UNLESS the following statement is true:

"If I were to stop paying my 401k loans, I would have enough disposable income to be pushed into a CH 13". Not true? GOOD.

Some trustees will balk at those payments because they don't consider them to be "real loans" as you're paying yourself. However, if- in the big picture- it doesn't make a difference, then they will probably let it slide.

Now, contributions to your 401k can be a BIG problem. If you or your husband are making them.. I suggest you STOP now.

Re: your house. Where do you live? What is your exemption for your homestead? What is your equity?

The mortgage company will not foreclose on you as long as you are current. However, if you have too much equity, the trustee can demand the difference in equity minus exemption.

You have until October 17, 2005 until the new laws kick in.

Hope this helps.. glad to do it! I'm trying to "pay it forward" since I myself got so much help here just a few short weeks ago!

[lilkim]

thank you so much!!! i live in s.c. i am not sure but i think the homestaed is like 5000.00
i owe like 85000.00 on our home and land, it is a small double wide with 19.2 acres, not wourth what is owed.

we do not have any 401k coming out of our checks anymore, i had those stopped last month.

another ?, when they look at your disposable income, do they take those amounts before you file bk ( all the bills you are filling for) or is that after the fact you are not paying those bills any more.. i hope this makes sense to you cause it don`t to me..lol

thanks so so much!!!!

[babygirl]

my attorney told me disposable income is extra money you receive when not paying the bankruptcy debts. Understand?

[mymymy]

OK.. Kim. Take a deep breath, girlfriend!

Disposable income = Income minus living expenses.. NOT your cc bills or medical or whatever amounts you want to have discharged.

Use this calculator to figure out your expenses:

http://www.ca-bankruptcy-attorneys.com/calculators/expense_calculator.html

You'll see what I mean about neccessary living expenses. Watch the amounts you use for things like entertainment, tobacco, pets.. things the trustee could question as to whether they are needed for your livelihood.. understand?

Here's the IRS's guidelines.. just to give you an idea of the ballpark figures they use and will accept. Go to the part in the chart for the number of people in your family..(they are not absolute numbers, but will give you an idea.. of course, you want to be as truthful as possible, too!)

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=104627,00.html

[70mach]

Thank you so very much for those links!

[lilkim]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
those sites are great, we don`t spend nearly what is allowed for our family of 4, so i think we should be fine.

any more info you might want to share is greatly appreciated, i am going nutts here, i feel like i am on pins and needles. do you think the new bk laws are going to effect me, cause i will not being actually filing until 7/1/2005, by the time our paperwork is done and the lawyer is paid in full.