How to reduce DMI

[Majakat]

Hubby has made more than I though the last 3 months, which pushes us from an obvious 7 to a 13 with our dmi - I want to reduce my DMI legally, of course -

I know I read life insurance - I could insure myself for 197/mo for 275k term policy - and as a mother of 3, it would be a responsible thing to do -

My cars are paid for, so it looks like the Ownership/leasing expense might be available on the 22A - I am in Nevada - if it is available, we would be fine, but i dont want to go in not prepared and forced to do a 13

I am filing with an atty, but trying to get all ducks in a row before I get her all the paperwork

Anything else I should think of other than life insurance?

[JEM]

Hubby has made more than I though the last 3 months, which pushes us from an obvious 7 to a 13 with our dmi - I want to reduce my DMI

I know I read life insurance - I could insure myself for 197/mo for 275k term policy - and as a mother of 3, it would be a responsible thing to do -

My cars are paid for, so it looks like the Ownership/leasing expense might be available on the 22A - I am in Nevada - if it is available, we would be fine, but i dont want to go in not prepared and forced to do a 13

I am filing with an atty, but trying to get all ducks in a row before I get her all the paperwork

Anything else I should think of other than life insurance?

That might be deemed high. I know for me, I pay $48/mo. WITH health issues.

I think you can lower the deductibles on insurances, which will raise you premiums. We lowered ours awhile back to $50 (from $500).

[momofthree]

My mouth dropped open at that life insurance rate too! We pay less than $50 a month to insure both of us ($500k for dh and $250k for me), but we are young (early 30s) and healthy....

[mamaluv]

I have a life insurance plan through work and I pay $16/month for $250k.

[momofthree]

Are you wanting to reduce DMI on the means test, or schedules I & J? The means test is pretty limited....

You are allowed disability insurance and you can max out your car insurance too....

[liz417]

When do you plan to file? I did a few things: decreased my auto deductibles (from $1000 to $100), got more life insurance (suggested by attorney), also since I had to wait to file BK and I had been living (pre BK) on the "bare necessities", I increased everything from my home phone line, internet, cable and cell phone(s). To save money, I was doing laundry/dry cleaning at home and while I was "preparing", I sent EVERYTHING to the Cleaners
Of course I saved ALL receipts and had proof that this was an expense for more than 6 months (BTW, my Trustee never questioned anything).

[GWBcasualty]

My cars are paid for, so it looks like the Ownership/leasing expense might be available on the 22A - I am in Nevada - if it is available, we would be fine, but i dont want to go in not prepared and forced to do a 13

Nevada is in Circuit 9 so if the cars are paid off the Ownership/Leasing expense is NOT available. If your cars are more than 6yrs old and have more than 75k miles you can take $200xvehicle (vs $596...)

Do what most do and what I did this weekend, buy/finance a new/used car with less miles so you have reliable transportation.
If you do the deal right the secured amount will be equal to the private party value of the car, you don't have to worry about the exemption and you get the $596 expense to get your DMI down.

[nerves]

A couple of items I question: 1) the clothing looks low for a family of five and 2) do you have any prescription drugs or vitamins you take? This would be an additional medical expense if they apply.

[Majakat]

Nevada is in Circuit 9 so if the cars are paid off the Ownership/Leasing expense is NOT available. If your cars are more than 6yrs old and have more than 75k miles you can take $200xvehicle (vs $596...)

Do what most do and what I did this weekend, buy/finance a new/used car with less miles so you have reliable transportation.
If you do the deal right the secured amount will be equal to the private party value of the car, you don't have to worry about the exemption and you get the $596 expense to get your DMI down.

oh, well both the cars we are exempting are older than 6 years, so that 400 certainly helps! My credit is horrible right now, so I dont think we could buy anything, but that sounds interesting - i was wondering if we could trade in one of jeeps that still has value and get a newer car, but as i said, credit score went down 150 points in 2 months, i dont think it is going to happen -

[MarieT]

A couple of items I question: 1) the clothing looks low for a family of five and 2) do you have any prescription drugs or vitamins you take? This would be an additional medical expense if they apply.

You can count vitamins as an expense???

[MarieT]

When do you plan to file? I did a few things: decreased my auto deductibles (from $1000 to $100), got more life insurance (suggested by attorney), also since I had to wait to file BK and I had been living (pre BK) on the "bare necessities", I increased everything from my home phone line, internet, cable and cell phone(s). To save money, I was doing laundry/dry cleaning at home and while I was "preparing", I sent EVERYTHING to the Cleaners
Of course I saved ALL receipts and had proof that this was an expense for more than 6 months (BTW, my Trustee never questioned anything).

Do you normally have to prove that you have had these expenses for at least six months? Just wondering since I just decresed our deductible on the house and car insurance last week and really want to file end of July. I also discovered that my insurance company does an "every three year review" with the next one coming in July so really want to get this filed before they review me and up my rates becasue I have filed BK!

[JackBondLove]

My mouth dropped open at that life insurance rate too! We pay less than $50 a month to insure both of us ($500k for dh and $250k for me), but we are young (early 30s) and healthy....

I remember a colleague of mine whose wife had him insured up to gills. He said that he was worth more to his wife dead than alive. I told him to start watching her dig into dinner first before he would.

[liz417]

Do you normally have to prove that you have had these expenses for at least six months? Just wondering since I just decresed our deductible on the house and car insurance last week and really want to file end of July. I also discovered that my insurance company does an "every three year review" with the next one coming in July so really want to get this filed before they review me and up my rates becasue I have filed BK!

No, but I saved all receipts/proof just in case. My Trustee didn't ask for anything, I thought he would because I includede over $700/month in car maintinance/expenses alone (not including car payment or insurance) and he didn't ask to see anything

[MarieT]

That is interesting. We just spent about $400 a couple weeks ago on my car...it's a paid off 2002 and we will need to spend another $600 to $800 on tires really soon and also have to put in a new timing belt that will run another $400 probably. My husband got new tires on his car about 4 nmonths ago and that was $700. This is all deferred maintenance that normally we would have spread out a bit more. Did you just add up all your car maintenance for the year and divide it by 12 months?

We are also still looking at purchasing life insurance. Beyond reducing our DMI, it would really help me sleep at night. If anything were to happen to my husband, we would be in sad shape. Also thinking about some kind of disability insurance. If I purchase the insurance now, won't the trustee just look at it that we are trying to reduce our DMI?

[liz417]

[QUOTE=MarieT;409734]That is interesting. We just spent about $400 a couple weeks ago on my car...it's a paid off 2002 and we will need to spend another $600 to $800 on tires really soon and also have to put in a new timing belt that will run another $400 probably. My husband got new tires on his car about 4 nmonths ago and that was $700. This is all deferred maintenance that normally we would have spread out a bit more. Did you just add up all your car maintenance for the year and divide it by 12 months?

We are also still looking at purchasing life insurance. Beyond reducing our DMI, it would really help me sleep at night. If anything were to happen to my husband, we would be in sad shape. Also thinking about some kind of disability insurance.(QUOTE)

Yes, that's exactly what I did. I kept track of the last 12 months then divided that by 12, that's how I got the finally figure. Don't forget yearly car tags, insurance, any AAA type service and that 30k, 60k, 90k maintanence stuff. As for the additional life insurance, I didn't need to get anymore because my DMI was close enough to zero once I added everything in, but my attorney suggested it and didn't seem to have any problem with me picking it up BEFORE I filed.