Terrible News .....

[LaidOff53]

I spoke to our BK attorney today and was told that DH & I can not file bankruptcy because we are over the 6 month income limit to file Chapter 7 , I am so upset !! He told me that all income earned from Nov thru Apr had to be added and cannot exceed $26,505 ( 6 months ) . DH is on unemployment and will recieve $14,339 in this 6 month time , I will get $ 12,870 so added together we make over $700.00 to much . He said it is all a numbers game . The bad thing is that this is what we make and our income wont go down until his unemployment runs out which wont be until December !! BK attorney said to come back when the income falls below the median . We cant hold out that long , guess i should start looking for a BIG cardboard box to live in

[LuciluS]

I spoke to our BK attorney today and was told that DH & I can not file bankruptcy because we are over the 6 month income limit to file Chapter 7 , I am so upset !! He told me that all income earned from Nov thru Apr had to be added and cannot exceed $26,505 ( 6 months ) . DH is on unemployment and will recieve $14,339 in this 6 month time , I will get $ 12,870 so added together we make over $700.00 to much . He said it is all a numbers game . The bad thing is that this is what we make and our income wont go down until his unemployment runs out which wont be until December !! BK attorney said to come back when the income falls below the median . We cant hold out that long , guess i should start looking for a BIG cardboard box to live in

Why cant you wait? We haven't paid most of our Credit Cards since 9/08 and we will not be filing until Sept.2009. Yes, we may get A Judgement or Garnishment, but Attorney says he can hold the Creditors off until then.

Luci

[LaidOff53]

His unemployment will run out in Dec so we will have to wait at least a couple of months after that so the 6 month average will go below the median as we are 700 over a month . We havent been late on anything so far but its getting near impossible to make all the bills each month , and if he gets a job which we know wont be what he was making at the job he just lost because he was there 24 yrs . I was just hoping to file and get it over with but seems like even on Unemployment we are screwed.

[TEW]

I spoke to our BK attorney today and was told that DH & I can not file bankruptcy because we are over the 6 month income limit to file Chapter 7 , I am so upset !! He told me that all income earned from Nov thru Apr had to be added and cannot exceed $26,505 ( 6 months ) . DH is on unemployment and will recieve $14,339 in this 6 month time , I will get $ 12,870 so added together we make over $700.00 to much . He said it is all a numbers game . The bad thing is that this is what we make and our income wont go down until his unemployment runs out which wont be until December !! BK attorney said to come back when the income falls below the median . We cant hold out that long , guess i should start looking for a BIG cardboard box to live in

Go see another lawyer I don't know what state you are in but i can not imagine making 8400 a year is over madam and how many people in the house hold?

[LaidOff53]

im in PA , DH makes 539 per week plus 25 ( stimulas ) = 2256 per month , he recieves 2 ( 2 weeks each ) checks per month except for Apr and he will get 3 checks so thats a total of 14,614 ( 6 mo period ) then add my income which is 1980 per month and i have an extra pay in May for a total of 12,869 ( 6 mo period ) I hope im figuring this right , the problem is that both DH & I have 2 months each durning the yr that we get an extra pay so that will always put us over the median per 6 month period . I told the attorney ( via phone ) and he said anything over the 53,011 per yr would be problems and come & see him when we get below that amount which wont happen until Dec which means we wont be able to file until after Dec . Hope i havent confused everyone with all these figures

[StartingOver08]

Go see another attorney. I was over median and filed a Ch 7 and was discharged. Many people on this board were over median, filed Ch 7 and were discharged.

Go see another attorney.

[limegreen260]

I'm confused. I thought if you were over the median it just meant you were required to take the means test to see if you qualify for Ch. 7.

[B65]

you need a 2nd opinion

I would get a second opinion, that is what the means test is for when you are over median.

[spearmint]

Why cant you wait? We haven't paid most of our Credit Cards since 9/08 and we will not be filing until Sept.2009. Yes, we may get A Judgement or Garnishment, but Attorney says he can hold the Creditors off until then.

Luci

I don't think you could hold off garnishments.

[Logan]

What if you skipped a month of unemployment? Something to look into.

[debtmonster]

I am in the same boat. That's why I have not filed all this time. My lawyer told me to hold off until July. We're not supposed to make over $4200/mo. for the 6 months in a row. In December 2008 we made about $8000 from a Christmas bonus, so that killed me. So now I will need to use the income from January 2009 to June 2009, which should all mostly be around $3000 or less per month, which is about $1200/mo. under the median.

Last month we made only $2800. That's only $33,000/yr. for a married couple which is pathetic to live on. Our bills come out to about $6,200/mo. With $2,000 net, we can only pay 1/3rd of our bills.

[jessegirl]

I am in the same boat. That's why I have not filed all this time. My lawyer told me to hold off until July. We're not supposed to make over $4200/mo. for the 6 months in a row. In December 2008 we made about $8000 from a Christmas bonus, so that killed me. So now I will need to use the income from January 2009 to June 2009, which should all mostly be around $3000 or less per month, which is about $1200/mo. under the median.

Last month we made only $2800. That's only $33,000/yr. for a married couple which is pathetic to live on. Our bills come out to about $6,200/mo. With $2,000 net, we can only pay 1/3rd of our bills.

Just curious - do you work debt?

[hopejones]

I hadn't made a payment on my credit cards for 18 months before anyone tried to sue me. If you have a lot of credit card debt, you may want to stop paying on them. That's what I did. I used the $900 that I would've sent the credit card companies to pay towards my mortgage every month. Depending on how much you owe the credit card companies, this method may allow you to delay filing Chapter 7 until April 2010 or May 2010. The credit card companies will be sending you harassing letters & phone calls though. When I got served papers by NCO Financial (collection agency for my Chase card), I was able to delay a judgement for 3 months by responding to the "Complaint" filed against me. I said in the complaint that I did not owe the amount in question and that I needed proof that I owed the amount.

[jennordhavn]

I think you should consult with another attorney. I was $1800+ over median for the year and still passed the means test. The income is just the first step in determining whether you qualify for a Ch. 7.

[Tromploi]

We were WAY over median for a family of 4. By about 50K and still qualified for a 7. See another attorney.