The UST just got involved Please help

[justbroke]

The paralegal just called and said the lawyer needs to meet with us ASAP. Dh is on evenings and right now the soonest we all have available is Wednesday.

I now have a huge pit in my stomach. If this doesn't work out we can dismiss and refile in 6 months right?

Don't panic. He may just need you to sign the amendments to your filing.

Yes, you can always allow the Trustee to dismiss (without prejudice) and then refile whenever you want (all your ducks are lined up nicely).

[aces67]

Don't panic. He may just need you to sign the amendments to your filing.

Yes, you can always allow the Trustee to dismiss (without prejudice) and then refile whenever you want (all your ducks are lined up nicely).

We would have to wait 6 months though right?

[banca rotta]

We would have to wait 6 months though right?

Yes! Good luck

[justbroke]

We would have to wait 6 months though right?

Not necessarily. It would depend on whether the Trustee dismisses and the Judge concurs to dismiss "with prejudice". Many times, lawyers will work something out with the Trustee to refile immediately. I've seen this many times in the courtroom. The only time a Trustee would dismiss with prejudice, is if you were blatantly not following court orders or for "cause".

[aces67]

Okay I'm so confused now. We saw our lawyer again yesterday. The UST has 2 issues. #1 our means test shows money left over b/c our lawyer didn't use our truck payment in it. #2 He wants more proof that dh's income has dropped and won't come back up any time soon.

So my lawyer says #1 is a simple issue. We just change our intentions to show we want to keep the truck and then not reaffirm it. That puts us failing the means test.
The second thing though is confusing to me. The UST had November through April paystubs. He's asking for May and June to show a continual decline. So the lawyer got those and after working through all the numbers they prove that dh's income has dropped a total of $1200 PER MONTH. He had dh sign an affidavit stating that those paystubs are true and correct and that his schedule still remains the same and that the overtime is not likely to come back anytime soon.

Now he says he doesn't know if the trustee will accept this. He can still refuse. If that happens the lawyer says we have these choices:

1. He goes before the BK Judge and argues for us that the income is gone and the UST is being completely unreasonable. Hopefully the Judge will Okay it and let our BK go through.
2. We dismiss and refile in 6 months- he says we may not be able to do this though. He says 6 months from now dh's income will have come down even more and there would be no questions then about his income b/c it would put us so far below the median BUT he says the UST can still say our case is an ABUSE and not let it go through b/c we tried to file previously.
3. We go back to a 13 which we can't afford.

Am I missing something here? Can he really say we don't have enough proof of our loss of income? It's gone downhill every month. DH's last good month was November and he grossed $5800. He now only grosses $4600 a month every single month. In November the company paid him all his yearly and semi yearly bonuses and put it all on one check. Like his allowances for steel boots, tools, and his floating holidays that he tried to take but wasn't allowed to. That's the only reason his check was so big

Our lawyer says that the UST probably won't make a decision until the end of next week so now we wait and wait some more

[justbroke]

Am I missing something here? Can he really say we don't have enough proof of our loss of income?

The U.S. Trustee can argue anything. They are there to stop abuse. Remember, many people "time" their filings so that their income look lower. The U.S. Trustee's office has caught onto this. It's not just about the means test, as you're learning.

It's gone downhill every month. DH's last good month was November and he grossed $5800. He now only grosses $4600 a month every single month. In November the company paid him all his yearly and semi yearly bonuses and put it all on one check. Like his allowances for steel boots, tools, and his floating holidays that he tried to take but wasn't allowed to. That's the only reason his check was so big

This is probably why the U.S. Trustee sees something interesting. Wondering if that blip, is just a blip or not.

Our lawyer says that the UST probably won't make a decision until the end of next week so now we wait and wait some more

Sounds like your lawyer has done everything possible. Now, it's just up to the UST.

[JRScott]

Just give what you got. Hopefully it can work out in the end. Its not uncommon for a UST to object to things, however a good number back off too, sounds like you got a good lawyer.

[aces67]

Just give what you got. Hopefully it can work out in the end. Its not uncommon for a UST to object to things, however a good number back off too, sounds like you got a good lawyer.

I hope he's good. He makes me really nervous at times.

He says what's annoying him the most is that dh and I have 20K in debt and that's it and no assets. 2 kids to take care of and a decreasing income.

He says that doesn't smell of abuse. He said he has clients that actually have 1K left over every month and they get less scrutiny than we have.

[banca rotta]

I hope he's good. He makes me really nervous at times.

He says what's annoying him the most is that dh and I have 20K in debt and that's it and no assets. 2 kids to take care of and a decreasing income.

He says that doesn't smell of abuse. He said he has clients that actually have 1K left over every month and they get less scrutiny than we have.

I find that very hard to believe. 1k?? Doubt it. Anyone can mask between 100 & 200 for charities, supplemental insurance, etc. but 1k is an exaggeration. If so they are the real abusers of the system. No bankrupt can possibly have that unless they get a great job right after discharge.

Sorry I went off topic, 1k caught my eye.

[mamaof2]

now i am scared...where on pacer would that flag be?

[whipster1]

In order to convert to a seven and get a discharge, there must be clear and convincing evidence of a "change in circumstances"...the UST has to be able to quantify the change in circumstances for their OK of the case to be discharged. Your attorney should have told you this when you converted that the UST was going to need lots of evidence.

[aces67]

He did tell us that the UST would want proof but we gave him dh's checkstubs and our bank statements. We are a one income family and all we have is dh's paycheck. I just thought that would have been enough. We also submitted copies of dh's work schedule. It hasn't changed since January 1st. The hours stay the same and his paychecks stay the same. They just gave him his new schedule for the next 4 months and guess what? It's all the same No more Overtime any time soon

[happy_ira]

Just my quick $0.02... do a search for my username. I posted extensive comments about the UST's involvement in my case, and the presumed abuse 707(b) that they had filed against me. I successfully overcame them and proved otherwise. Perhaps my posts will help. Also, feel free to message me if you have any offline questions.

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=33801

- Ira