"Roommate" is wealthy...I am not

[Red Velvette]

Hello,

I am a full time student and mother who lives with a rather well to do professional gentleman. (yes, he is my boyfriend)

I would like to file chapter seven before I graduate from school, but I am worried about the roommate thing.

He owns the house and the cars. He pays for everything while I am attending school.

1. Is he considered part of my household?

2. Would I claim half the expenses he pays toward the household as money that regularly contributes to the household (which would normally be my share), or all of what he contributes?

3. Do I need to move out before I can legally do this? If so, how long would I need to live there?

Please tell me what I need to consider before doing this, as I want to do this correctly.

Thank so much!

~Christina

[AngelinaCat]

Hi Christina, welcome to the forum.

How much debt do you owe? Student loans, for the most part, are not dischargeable.

[magyar123]

Just consider him as your landlord. Write out rent checks to him, so there is a record of you paying rent - let him actually cash the check so there is a record of you paying (he can always repay you in cash) and consider whatever else you're paying as your own expenses.

[keepmine]

Are you employed?

[Red Velvette]

Hi, and thanks!

Angelina, I don't have the exact figures yet, but it's enough. I figure if all I have left are student loans I'll be ok.

I can't write checks to him. I have no job, and no income. (except selling my text books, and a few things on Ebay and Amazon.)

I know this is a bit of a murky area. Can anyone shed some light on it?

Thanks,

~Christina

[keepmine]

Not murky at all. While line 8 on 22A does ask for amounts paid to support you the fact is, you have no job so you're below the median income for your state plus, you have no way to fund a Chapter 13 plan.
Most bk lawyers will give free or low cost initial consultations. Talk with a few and get all of your options explained.

[boiler704]

i have a similar situation in that i'm living for free (at parents) and no job. filled the paperwork for chp 7bk on tuesday and the lawyers seemed to have no problem with it. they just showed it as my parents giving me money for expenses.

[stephenm]

The answer is get a GOOD lawyer. Since you don't have any income, the trustee will want to know where your money comes from. Read the federal guide lines but whatever he pays toward rent/food/utils/clothing, goes against what you are allowed to claim. Without an income it seems like you'll get a chapter 7 easy, except for a little question that gets asked when filing "Is there a reasonable chance of your household income changing in the near future." Household income is you and anyone else living at the same address.

Go on the internet and find 3 or 4 lawyers. Request their free consultation. Come armed with your questions and NO money. They will ask you to retain them and without a checkbook/debit card it is easier to say no but get all your questions answered and get to the point where you are able answer your own questions and point things out to these lawyers. Then look up who the truestee's are for your district and retain one of them as your lawyer. Yes, they cost more but it makes life much easier since they will already know what you can do and won't try and "sneak" things through.

Be careful on filing, many places are skirting the laws and pulling credit reports or even flat out asking about bk's as part of interviews.

If you don't mind me asking, how much debt are you looking to discharge?

If you are able to still have the same living arrangements after you graduate and get a full time job, you might be able to pay everything off in a year or two. My first job was at the college I attended and I stayed in my same apartment for 8 months while paying off my debts but I had less then $5000 in debts also.

Whatever you do, change your money habits else you'll be here again in 10 years like me.

Stephen

[Cali]

Good Luck Red Velvette.

I don't think you will have any problem filing C7, even with a wealthy roomie.