341 question

[nazstar]

Recap of situation:

- I will be quitting my job March 1 to be a full time stay at home mom (we have an infant and one on the way).

- With just my husband's base salary, we will be under the median income (barely) and will then qualify for chapter 7. Completed schedules I and J with the new one income figures and we will have a deficit every month. We will be making up this deficit during the coming 6 months by using a bonus check that we've banked. This money should run out by the time we file.

- AFTER we file and our case is closed, my husband can make another $400-800 a month in overtime alone and that will bring us even each month. But, in the meantime, we are afraid to bill these hours to his firm because it will put us over the median. Plus, he is in the process of getting his microsoft certifications so he can get a better job in 2009. AND, if needed, he might pick up some consulting work after the case is closed for extra income.

My question is: Will the trustee give us a hard time because our schedules will show such a deficit every month? Will he ask how we intend to live without credit if we are running a deficit? We aren't hiding any assets or income in the 6 months prior to filing. But after our case is closed, we will have more income when he seeks more work. Is that ok or is it considered fraud of some sort? I don't wanna do anything wrong here. My original thinking is what you do for employment AFTER your case is closed is your business. If you successful complete the bankruptcy procedure and get a job 3 months later that pays $250K a year, that's just your good fortune, right? Or it may just be my wishful thinking....

[ameliabedilia]

We had a deficit when we filed too. The lawyers we spoke to told us that the real problem with running a deficit is if you have a house or car payment that you want to reaffirm. They might not let you because they don't want you to get into more trouble. We actually went bare bones on all the listed expenses so the deficit wouldn't be as large. You could probably still do your food expenses pretty low since there are really only two of you that eat any real amount of food, unless your baby eats like a grownup .
Also, with a baby you won't be going out ever, so maybe you can trim expenses there?

By the way, how are you accounting for the bonus check? We knew my husband was going to get a new job so we wrote that on the schedule where it says to list any anticipated change in income and then we filed amended schedules.

[nazstar]

The bonus is being paid in a few weeks and we won't be filing until September so it will drop off the 6 month income lookback. I won't be getting it again since I'm quitting. I didn't really put in expenses for "eating out" since we rarely do it anyways. I just included it in groceries (it's more along the lines of ordering a pizza every now and again).