Attorney Filing Later Than Expected - Am I Going to Have Problems?

[AlmostAmos]

OK - Here my deal. I am filing in July so I can use my earnings from Jan-Jun. I was only $800 under median for those months! I told my attorney I wanted to file the first week of July for the following reasons:

1) I wanted it to get my 341 scheduled so I'd be done w/ this whole mess sooner.
2) I knew my first paycheck in July (10 days from now) would be 30% more than the paychecks I made in Jan-Jun.
3) I knew I would be taking a vacation (paid for by family) in July and did not want expenses showing up on my bank statements that the trustee would see as I didn't want to tick him/her off.

Well, my attorney tells me that they will not have the petition complete until at least mid-week next week. Probably the following week - because they are going on VACATION! This really ticked me off as I was very forward w/ this information. I had planned out my $ where my bank account balance on filing day would be only $100 or so. I prepaid some bills.

W/ this change, my bank account will now have a few thousand $ in it on filing day. AND, my bank statement is going to have some expenses from our vacation place in the days leading up to filing. What do you think about this? Would it be better to pull out cash & try to explain that (honestly) later on if asked?

ETA: Also, my attorney has given me no guidance on how to handle things around filing time. Because my petition is not ready I have no idea about my exemptions or how much $ I can even have on hand. Geez.

Am I worrying over nothing?

[ja181]

1. Yeah..patience is a virtue =)

2. As long as you file before the end of July, your 6 month look-back will not include the pay you receive in July, and this income will not count in your means test or be able to put you over the median. It will need to be reported as cash on-hand though, I believe. Do NOT spend the extra pay. Keep it around.

3. Pay for everything in cash. Make sure nothing shows up on your bank statements. Just make an ATM withdrawal. I did this, a few friends took me on a vacation, they paid for most of it but I had about $250 in expenses. I took out $400 (KEEP IT UNDER $600!) at an ATM and bought lots of cheap groceries from costco, spent the rest on vacation. Trustee didn't notice or care.

[ja181]

Also, the day I signed my ppw with my attorney, my bank balance was $20. When the attny actually filed, 2 weeks later, my bank balance as $2,500. Trustee didn't seem to care about that.

[StartingOver08]

Also, the day I signed my ppw with my attorney, my bank balance was $20. When the attny actually filed, 2 weeks later, my bank balance as $2,500. Trustee didn't seem to care about that.

Be careful. Just because your Trustee did not want the $2500 does not mean others would not. Here the Trustee's would be all over it in a heartbeat. The bank account balance is the easiest target. Whatever is in the account needs to be exempted and in some districts, $2500 cash is waaayyy over the allowed exemption.