Expense...should i include DH CC payments?

[arami008]

I listed my husbands CC payments on schedule J on line13b. He has two department store credit cards exclusively under his name, so i didn't include those in my bk, because i am filing alone. He owes like 300 combined and the total cc payments are $40/month.

Well i am kind of worried on this issue because i don't know how they will look at this. ???

Any suggestions?

[JRScott]

CC payments are not approved expenses.....

In my opinion you shouldn't have listed them. You could probably amend the filing though. He would be assumed to be paying his CC from the amount of funds he does not contribute to household bills.

[HHM]

I beg to differ JR, you can include the non-filing spouses CC payments in the spouse column for schedule J.

[JRScott]

I suppose you could do that in the spouse column, based on their other thread though they live in a community property state, and I honestly don't see what they will get by just one of them filing. I'm hoping they have consulted an attorney even if they are going pro se.

[HHM]

I suppose you could do that in the spouse column, based on their other thread though they live in a community property state, and I honestly don't see what they will get by just one of them filing. I'm hoping they have consulted an attorney even if they are going pro se.

Good point.

[arami008]

I did consult an attorney, but i can't afford to pay for one to help with the filing...we are not filing jointly because he owes no more than 300 in cc, and we are hoping to keep his credit somewhat better to buy a house some day.

I haven't filed yet, I will in the next week or so. I will probably not include the cc payments as expenses or will search a bit more on that.

Thanks for your responses.

[trueblues]

I beg to differ JR, you can include the non-filing spouses CC payments in the spouse column for schedule J.

Is this on Sched. J, #13. Installment Payments (a) Other _____ ?

Also, could someone please explain how Schedule J even works? I mean, why do they ask what we pay for rent, food, clothing, etc. when they've set the amount we can claim anyway? We pay well over the allowed rent and utilities, those are so expensive in CA I don't see how they arrived at the figures they did. We live in the desert and our a/c bill alone (keeping the thermostat at 82 in the summer costs 2/3 of the total monthly allowed utilities).
I've researched the average rental cost in my area. Supposedly, it's $1,600-$2,000, but in reality that's low. We pay $1,700 for an old, run-down house and our landlord is being kind - he could get more. They only allow $1,445 which is ridiculous. You can't find anything for that amount for a family of four.

We're $1,400 over the annual median and I'm trying to find expenses where I can. I'm so afraid they'll push me into a Chap. 13 instead of 7. I don't know what the future holds, but at our age and with health conditions, I think there's a real possibility we won't be able to make payments for 3-5 years.

Because my husband just got an unexpected bonus, I now have to wait longer to file than I planned. I've interviewed laywers but haven't hired one yet or I'd ask him these questions. Thanks.