Help!

[InOverMyHead]

My husband and I decided to file chapter 7 BK. We met with our lawyer (actually his paralegal) on Tuesday. That morning when we woke up we checked our checking account because we knew we owed her 299 dollars before she could file the petition.
***Sidebar: we had gotten a couple of payday loans advances a couple of weeks ago (totaling 400 dollars). As soon as we decided to file, our lawyer's paralegel told us to put a stop payment on them at the bank so that they couldn't take payment out. So we did.
Ok back to the story. The payday loan company, even though we put a stop payment on what we owed them, took about 700 dollars out of our checking account. Needless to say that only left us with 42 dollars! So we called the bank explained what happened and that we had a stop payment. They said that there was nothing that they could do since the amount that we put the stop payments for was less than what they took out. So they basically told me tough, deal with it yourself. So we decided to go a head and go to the meeting that we had with the attorney and maybe there was something that she could do about it. She advised us to just put the fees that we were going to incure at the bank on our BK. As of right now that is 500 dollars because they paid all of the checks that came through. (Two checks, and the fees).
On top of this we bought a car on Feburary 21st because I needed a car to get around while my husband was working his part time job on the weekend. We of course had to go to a buy here pay here lot, and the car is a piece of crap. We pay a 24.9 percent interest rate (YIKES) and the thing breakes down almost everytime I drive it. We pay 129.06 every other week for it. So the lawyer also suggested that we put that on our BK. So we have stopped payments on that and they are going to come and get it this weekend. UGH!!!!!
When we met with the paralegal on Tuesday she was having a hard time with our means test. She needed to come up with an extra 550 in expenses to show that we are eligible to file a 7. I was like WHAT, we don't have that much money, there is no way. So she eventually worked it out (I am not sure how). Now I am worried that is not going to be excepted because she probably put some BS stuff on the expenses to cover the 550 that we had left.
Please tell me this will all get better!

[Minnymouth]

NOW you attorney is responsible for what is in your petition, just like you are....... sooooooo, if she is "padding it" - she best be able to prove it......

Remember not everyone qualifys for a Chapter 7....... many are put into a 13 under the new laws......


Hang in there, things will get better, you'll see. Get this bankruptcy behind you and look to the future.....

Keep us posted.

[annikasaunt]

My atty gave me suggestions for a little padding, but it can all be explained and proven, etc...
Look it over and make sure it makes sense to YOU!! I had to make sure that once my car is paid, which is this month, I had enough expenses to not leave me any extra cash!! We did it!! And it did make sense to me!!

[Minnymouth]

Your attorney KNOWS how much he can pad before they will question it..... he has to cover his own butt now too....

So hang in there.

[SinkingFast]

Some people can pick up dollars of expenses immediately just by using the IRS and Census Bureau allowables off the schedules.

Say you have a family of 6 and you're spending $600/month on food. But say the Schedules allow you to spend $900/month on food. That's $300 right there. That's an example, of course.

Then there are things that people don't think about because they only come around once in a while. Like how much you spend on clothes. We actually spent about $50/month on clothes last year, but we didn't buy much. That was new clothes for son for graduation, back to school clothes (not much) for our girls for school, and a shoe shopping trip for the kids. That's it. That's all we bought last year. Spent about $600. Can you imagine how much we'd spend if we bought a normal amount of clothes for everyone in the family?? So the paralegal wrote down $100+ cause she knows the Schedules allow for more than that. That's a place to get extra funds if they need it for our BK petition expenses.

Haircuts. How much does it cost for a hair cut?? Figure 6/year/person, minimum. Add that up and divide by 12. You buy newspapers, postage stamps, magazines, have a pet?? Ink cartridges and paper for your printer. Antivirus software renewal?? Gifts for family and friends. Eat out once in a while?? Go to the movies??

Once you start to think about it, expenses can be rather easy.

Also, check out this link:

http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/

If you click on Means Test you can get to the Schedules that say what you are allowed to spend for things. It may be more than you said.

Here's another link for you:

http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/showt...?t=5526&page=2

Page 2, post #24 by BKFiler. There's a link to a California Attny's expense calculator there. Helps you think of things you might otherwise forget to include.

[Jessika1012]

sensible expense for recreation and entertainment

Ineed advice as to what would constitute an eligible amount for the expense question for the 'recreation, clubs and entertainment' part of the schedule. This is very confusing.

This would include going out for dinner, movies, a gym pass, etc...correct? Any examples would be appreciated!!! THANKS!!

[SinkingFast]

Our attny's paralegal went thru the paperwork with us. When we got to entertainment she said,......... "Do you go out to eat? The movies? Rent videos?" I already knew from looking at PACER that $100 was the amount the Court is used to seeing for entertainment. And that's what the paralegal wrote down.

Gym memberships, school activities, driver's licenses and vehicle plates, school lunches, firewood, etc., we listed under "Other Expenses" on all the attnys' expense forms.

Just jot it all down. Don't worry about the category. Track your expenses. If you don't already, keep receipts for every thing you buy for a while.

Let the attny worry about where to put what expense. That's what they get paid for.

[Jessika1012]

So, such things as Christmas gifts, birthday gifts,---does anyone know if these kinds of things count? Gosh, thanks for the help. It is so tough determining all of these things. My husband and I are from divorced families so we do the Christmas thing two times a year and so on. It was a question my husband had.

[13inOR]

On ours the attorney said "miscellaneous" was the category for gifts, etc.

[Jessika1012]

reasonable expense?

What would be a reasonable expense for gifts for holidays and such?

[anonymuse]

What would be a reasonable expense for gifts for holidays and such?

Is it how much you have been spending in the recent past? Since I have had no money and would not put anymore on my credit card for over a year, I started becoming very creative--a lot of people got photography related gifts since frames are inexpensive if you decorate them yourselves and an 8x10 at Sam's Club is under a dollar.

I'm just starting my paperwork and I counted the number of people for birthdays, Christmas, and anniversaries and set myself a limit of $35 per person--much less than I would like to spend on my nieces and nephews, but I figure I'm going to be keeping myself on a strict budget after Chapter 7 to accumulate savings for emergencies.