The means test has me kind of confused. When our lawyer did it, she said we were +16$ at the end of the month. Obviously that allows us to pass.
But when I do the test at
http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankrup...tcy-means-test. it says we are -$275 every month.
I think the difference is in line 19a the food.clothing.household supplies blah blahs. The exemption is 1894$, but we obviously don't spend that much. Can we still use that amount?
My next question is this. Our lawyer said we should get our tax return first, and spend it, then file. She suggested putting it in safe places. Starting an IRA (w/e it is called) for DH, she said we could put a large chunk on our mortgage, as we are roughly 10-15k upside down in our home, and could even pay extra on my vehicle, as long as we didn't pay so much as to get equity in it.
Won't that tax return then count as income for us? Which would completely blow us out of the water I think. We are expecting 6-8k back. Wouldn't paying that extra to our mortgage or our car count as preferential payment, and thus sending us down the presumption of fraud road?
We are also expecting him to get a raise after the first of the year, which I don't think will mess too much if we file quickly, but if we wait until that return, I am afraid we will get pushed into a 13 unless we want to wait even longer. We could essentially send his raise amount to 401k, as right now he puts in nothing. We have a big fat 0 in the retirement department.
I am sending these concerns to the law lady too, just wanted some BTDT feedback too!
TYIA!
But when I do the test at
http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankrup...tcy-means-test. it says we are -$275 every month.
I think the difference is in line 19a the food.clothing.household supplies blah blahs. The exemption is 1894$, but we obviously don't spend that much. Can we still use that amount?
My next question is this. Our lawyer said we should get our tax return first, and spend it, then file. She suggested putting it in safe places. Starting an IRA (w/e it is called) for DH, she said we could put a large chunk on our mortgage, as we are roughly 10-15k upside down in our home, and could even pay extra on my vehicle, as long as we didn't pay so much as to get equity in it.
Won't that tax return then count as income for us? Which would completely blow us out of the water I think. We are expecting 6-8k back. Wouldn't paying that extra to our mortgage or our car count as preferential payment, and thus sending us down the presumption of fraud road?
We are also expecting him to get a raise after the first of the year, which I don't think will mess too much if we file quickly, but if we wait until that return, I am afraid we will get pushed into a 13 unless we want to wait even longer. We could essentially send his raise amount to 401k, as right now he puts in nothing. We have a big fat 0 in the retirement department.
I am sending these concerns to the law lady too, just wanted some BTDT feedback too!
TYIA!
Comment