To wait or Not

[Clouddancer]

It seems to me that I should wait for my income to come down to qualify for chapter 7. The problem I have with that is that I will still be over median, but I would be under means. So it seems that waiting might just delay getting out of debt since there is a chance I would be forced to a 13 anyway. If I file chapter 13 and my income drops, how hard would it be to convert to a 7? Or is that impossible if you still are above the median and just qualify because of the means and actual expenses. I have talked to two lawyers. The first lawyer only does chapter 7's and wouldn't bother with means test. The second lawyer went straight to figuring out a chapter 13 and wanted 4k in fees. Is there a risk in submitting a chapter 7 when you barely qualify? I get the impression from the first two attorneys that they don't want to deal with complicated means test and just want a cut and dry 7 or 13.

[ecsclb1724]

well considering the bankrutpcy attorneys are working for you, I would HIRE someone willing to actually work with your situation

[willbfree]

It may be that the two attorneys know the trustees in your area very well and are offering you their advice based on their experience. Our bk atty didn't want to file when we were under the means test but by barely $38. She was afraid that the trustee would object to some of the deductions and push us into a Ch 13. So we were going to wait two months to file for amounts to drop but atty found we had not taken the proper deductions. So we sat down over a weekend and went thru receipts. Then found we easily passed the means test honestly by much more and the atty filed on the 30th of March.

Sometimes you do get honest feedback but it may not be what you hear. Then again it may come from laziness. I would do more investigation and be sure to come to any future initial atty meetings fully prepared with questions.