Seeking info ..please help

[Never_Again]

If you are current, reaffirm, and keep paying on your vehicle, you will be fine. You may be fine even if you don't re-affirm, but are current and keep paying.

I would make certain that the spending "issues" are fixed before filing. I am speaking from experience about spending issues, so I am not talking down to you. However, sometimes, if you are just beginning to "feel the pinch," and have really not been through hell with the debt payments, bankruptcy can seem like an easy fix, and a way to get back into it and to spend some more.

What I am trying to say is, make sure that the lesson has been learned.

Make sure that you have your own plan to live on less than you make, while saving an emergency fund. If you can not do that, bankruptcy will NOT fix the issue, as you will be back there again.

You have almost 27% of your net pay going towards vehicles??!! This, in my opinion, is way too much, and you need to get rid of it! Yes, you may need to keep one so that you post bankruptcy expenses are in line with what is required for a chapter 7, but having that large of a percentage of your income being spent on vehicle payments is a formula for disaster.

Good luck to you, and be careful.

[debtmonster]

i think my employ is ok...my agency is small, even with bad economy we are building a new complex at were i work...i think im gonna file close to march.....i think if im not mistaken...you cant loose your vehicle ...if you are current on payment? if im wrong ,, i need to speak to an attorney...either way ...i have to have a vehicle...

Yeah, I don't think the bank wants it since it will be worth less than you owe. It's to their benefit that you keep it and keep making the benefits. What you owe vs. the auction price is a big difference.

Miami Dade is letting go over 400 employees and they are cutting back over $80 million. They all thought that their job was okay, too.

[midnightrocket]

well, i have definately learned a lot in just a few days!! i have faith my job is ok,,,, i have been doing this for 9 years...and have come to realize i have been a slave to debt for longer then that!. i am very excited to maybe have some money to purchase items needed in the upcoming future. i think i have made my decision 100% to file in march. if i cant keep the car or bike?? oh well....i can always get another one! its just that it is a very nice car, and its almost paid for!.... maybe if i lost my bike, i could pay cash for one in the future , after saving for it. i definately must change my spending habits for the best! it would be oh so nice to have money in a savings account!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! something i have NEVER DONE!!

[fltoo]

That child support would be stressing ME OUT! I remember when I grew up as a kid. It didn't cost me no $400/mo. to exist. I don't think my mom paid more than $20-30/wk for food for me, AT THE MOST.

Courts should only award REAL COSTS of raising the child after the spouse shows documented receipts. Anything over that amount is nothing more than the spouse with custody. I don't agree with anything judges say, and I don't even have kids!

Good luck on that one... just my opinion, which I know is worthless here, but that's how I think.

Sounds good, after all, the kid can always live under a bridge and read by candlelight. Just make sure you give them a pillow and blanket when it gets cold.

[GreenInkOnPaper]

That child support would be stressing ME OUT! I remember when I grew up as a kid. It didn't cost me no $400/mo. to exist. I don't think my mom paid more than $20-30/wk for food for me, AT THE MOST.

Courts should only award REAL COSTS of raising the child after the spouse shows documented receipts. Anything over that amount is nothing more than the spouse with custody. I don't agree with anything judges say, and I don't even have kids!

Good luck on that one... just my opinion, which I know is worthless here, but that's how I think.

$20-$30/wk for food? What about clothes, shoes, medical/dental/vision, gas to haul kids to school, daycare, school and sports activites, braces, health insurance, school pictures, working a screwy schedule so you can actually spend time with the kids, college....it goes on and on. When I got divorced, my ex husband made four times the money I did, but I've never missed a child support payment. We agreed together that we would BOTH pay for the kids. (Only 6 months to go!) Personally, anyone who has to make a judge force him/her to help raise their kids is worthless. I know that sometimes the court may seem to go overboard with the amount, and often times the parent who's receiving the money may not spend it on the kids as they should. But my opinion: If you make kids~ TAKE CARE OF THEM. Whew- I'm done.

[debtmonster]

Sounds good, after all, the kid can always live under a bridge and read by candlelight. Just make sure you give them a pillow and blanket when it gets cold.

Not saying to NOT PAY. I'm just saying to pay the REAL COSTS and nothing more.

If it costs $80 in groceries to feed the child and a few articles of clothing for the month and $180 was spent total, then $180 should be it, not $400, $500, $700 and all of these crazy amounts I see people paying.

I don't like the fact that a spouse profits on the deal from the misfortune of another. My father used to pay my mom $300/mo. child support which was above and beyond what it cost per month to raise my sister.

I just think the person with custody should have to provide receipts for everything and then then both parents simply split everything 50-50. That would be much more fair.

[debtmonster]

$20-$30/wk for food? What about clothes, shoes, medical/dental/vision, gas to haul kids to school, daycare, school and sports activites, braces, health insurance, school pictures, working a screwy schedule so you can actually spend time with the kids, college....it goes on and on. When I got divorced, my ex husband made four times the money I did, but I've never missed a child support payment. We agreed together that we would BOTH pay for the kids. (Only 6 months to go!) Personally, anyone who has to make a judge force him/her to help raise their kids is worthless. I know that sometimes the court may seem to go overboard with the amount, and often times the parent who's receiving the money may not spend it on the kids as they should. But my opinion: If you make kids~ TAKE CARE OF THEM. Whew- I'm done.

You're making it look worse than it is. I can remember as a kid how much it cost for my parents to raise me. IT WAS NOT EXPENSIVE the way you're making it out to be.

#1 I was not getting clothes every single month. And when I did, it was not expensive.
#2 Shoes would last me several months. Shoes are not expensive.
#3 medical/dental/vision - luxuries I never had and managed to survive without and so did every single classmate in my elementary school!
#4 Never went to day care. Just came home after school
#5 Gas to go to school? I RODE A BIKE! School was 2 miles away. How much gas could possibly be spent for me to go there?
#6 How often do you do school pictures? Once per year?
#7 Braces... I needed them and when I was 21 I paid for them myself. I did not put that burden on my parents.
#8 College - $50/mo. You start saving the moment the kid is born and pre-pay using cash leverage.

I can bet that my parents NEVER spent more than $100/mo. except maybe when I went to the doctor's a couple times per year. Big deal... a $50 visit every now and then.

I have seen many poor familes raise children and not incur all of these crazy expenses and they get along just fine when the parent could be making $8/hr.

If they can do it, so can every other parent in America.

[GreenInkOnPaper]

Have a couple of kids, then we'll talk.

[debtmonster]

Have a couple of kids, then we'll talk.

I've tried... with 3 different wives... and have no luck.

My wife now wants them really bad. I think the trick is not having day care. I know my sister is paying $600/mo. for that crap for her kid. My parents NEVER had the kind of bills people have today. We lived CHEAP and I managed to get by. My dad didn't know how to manage any money or teach me any better, so here I am. Had he taught me about mutual funds and IRA's and stuff when I was a kid, I wouldn't be in such a mess right now.

[GreenInkOnPaper]

I've tried... with 3 different wives... and have no luck.

My wife now wants them really bad. I think the trick is not having day care. I know my sister is paying $600/mo. for that crap for her kid. My parents NEVER had the kind of bills people have today. We lived CHEAP and I managed to get by. My dad didn't know how to manage any money or teach me any better, so here I am. Had he taught me about mutual funds and IRA's and stuff when I was a kid, I wouldn't be in such a mess right now.

My dad never gave me any financial advice except never let your checkbook register go below $20. Fortunately, I grew up and figured it out for myself.

[2Bshinyandnew]

Not saying to NOT PAY. I'm just saying to pay the REAL COSTS and nothing more.

If it costs $80 in groceries to feed the child and a few articles of clothing for the month and $180 was spent total, then $180 should be it, not $400, $500, $700 and all of these crazy amounts I see people paying.

I don't like the fact that a spouse profits on the deal from the misfortune of another. My father used to pay my mom $300/mo. child support which was above and beyond what it cost per month to raise my sister.

I just think the person with custody should have to provide receipts for everything and then then both parents simply split everything 50-50. That would be much more fair.

Whoa, DM... you are really sounding misinformed now.

CS is not just for food and clothes, it includes the pro-rata cost for rent/mortgage, utilities, the increased portion it costs the residential parent to live in a 2 or 3 bedroom home as opposed to a one bedroom home, extra gas, The Florida guidelines calculate each parents proportionate share based on income, which is a calculation arrived at by adding BOTH parents income and resources. So if one parent make substantially than the other their share of support will be more. The amount of time a child spends with the non residential parent is factored into the equation.

Jeez, if you go on the US Trustees website and look at how much the IRS allows for living expenses, you can clearly see that it costs MORE than just food and clothes to support a second or third person, even the IRS allows MORE to be allocated for larger families for housing, food, utilities, etc.

If I gave my ex receipts and split everything proportionately to what I earn vs what he earns, my son would get MORE CS from his dad than what is ordered now, which is based on the Florida Child support guidelines. Itemize it? Sure!!!

My ex would agree with me. He knows how much it costs to raise kids, especially teenagers and has said to me on many occasions he doesn't know how I do it even with what he contributes.

[fltoo]

Not saying to NOT PAY. I'm just saying to pay the REAL COSTS and nothing more.

If it costs $80 in groceries to feed the child and a few articles of clothing for the month and $180 was spent total, then $180 should be it, not $400, $500, $700 and all of these crazy amounts I see people paying.

I don't like the fact that a spouse profits on the deal from the misfortune of another. My father used to pay my mom $300/mo. child support which was above and beyond what it cost per month to raise my sister.

I just think the person with custody should have to provide receipts for everything and then then both parents simply split everything 50-50. That would be much more fair.

Ah, REAL COSTS. How about 300k for 3 kids for college alone, simply split 100%/0%? Never contemplated the term "fair", so I can't address that part of your post.

[debtmonster]

I still find that hard to believe. It's just me and my wife living here in this 3/2 with 2 car garage with NO KIDS. If we had kids, nothing would change. There would be no extra costs other than food, doctor visits, etc. Very minimal stuff.

People are voluntarily raising expenses when they don't have to.

I know they say all of that stuff, but in my opinion, I simply don't believe the hype.

[GreenInkOnPaper]

Have a couple of kids, then we'll talk.

[debtmonster]

I understand what you all are saying. I just don't agree with it all. All of these expenses that people have, I do not remember having as a child. To me, I don't see why all of the kids today are getting special treatment that I didn't get when I was 7 years old.