? about monthly expenses

[cj0203]

I just did my bills for the month of January. We stopped paying 4 bills this month in prep for BK in march. It frees up about $1k/mo for us to use for other things (well, until our student loans come due again, then it's $600). We'll use it for necessities of course (instead of charging them) and maybe put a couple hundred in savings if we can. I already used some to catch up on utilities.

I was just wondering, when doing the monthly expense part of the test, they DO include all expenses right? Even the ones we've stopped paying? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I am so confused with all this stuff.

[monkatom]

I do not believe you can include any debts that will be discharged in a chp 7 on any of the income tests. someone else please chime in and correct me if i am wrong?

[cj0203]

Wow I sure hope you are wrong. I know when we went in for our Atty consult she looked at EVERYTHING.

Man, we'd never pass if they didn't include that stuff

[biotechsolution]

You can't include any unsecured debts that you will discharging in your schedules...credit cards, loans, etc.

You will need to adjust your schedule to reflect that 1000.00 going
somewhere else. You can include your student loans in your payments.

[cj0203]

Well crap.

So if we are over median (which we currently are); we have to have less than $100 disposable income to qualify for a ch 7, right? Otherwise they'll stick us with a 13?

[biotechsolution]

yes. if you are over the median you are also only allowed to use the IRS allowable amounts for your means test.

[cj0203]

Thanks. I just looked at our expenses again and I had forgotten some of the things the atty said we could include. We should be OK, if not, we can wait until April and I have my baby and we'll qualify based on income since our family will be 4 instead of 3.

I appreciate the help!

[ameliabedilia]

I just did my bills for the month of January. We stopped paying 4 bills this month in prep for BK in march. It frees up about $1k/mo for us to use for other things (well, until our student loans come due again, then it's $600). We'll use it for necessities of course (instead of charging them) and maybe put a couple hundred in savings if we can. I already used some to catch up on utilities.

I was just wondering, when doing the monthly expense part of the test, they DO include all expenses right? Even the ones we've stopped paying? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I am so confused with all this stuff.

You can't put any money in savings, really. To the trustee, that is money that should be used to pay creditors, not save for yourself. I know you could try to exempt a savings account, but it's best to just not have any money when you file.

[cj0203]

My atty told me we could protect up to a certain amount in savings based on our numbers. I specifically asked her how much cash was protected and she gave me an estimate way above what we figure we could even save between now and then.

If it comes down to it and we need to spend some of the money we save, we can find things to use it for that would fall into the necessity category, but we want to save as much as we can since the baby is coming and babies aren't cheap!

[ameliabedilia]

I know you can exempt them, but I was told by an attorney it can raise flags if you include contributing to a savings plan in your current expenses (schedule J I think). Most will not allow that as an expense each month.
I don't think you have much to worry about. Especially don't stress about fees and interest rates and bill collectors. That will all be gone, so let them charge you to their hearts desire!

[cj0203]

thanks for the info. Mostly the 'savings' is to pay for things like oil/propane and car expenses which are already figured into our monthly chart, since we can't pay for that unless we save up for a few months first.

Eh, good thing we have a lawyer. I could never do this Pro Se, lol