Filed CH 7

[bluediamond2077]

I filed my CH 7 case after spending a week with my wife reading over everything such as the NOLO book "Hot to file for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy"

We have had no income for 4 years due to job loss and living on only student loans.

I am Filing alone being she filed a few months before we met.

One question I am wondering is my wife has credit cards to help her credit and I am not on them so we didn't list them because I am filing alone. The free lawyer in the self help center said it would not be an issue if she didn't owe on them at the time we filed. Now I am starting to wonder when they look at my wifes bank records they are going to see every bill charged on my wifes credit cards and then paid off at the end of the month. Is this going to be an issue? We paid her cards in full (about $800) and bills a day before we filed.

A second question, today after I filed I found in my wives bank records a tax return that came from my wife going to school even though we didn't make a dime that year. We got a tax return of about $500 from the "Refundable American Opportunity Credit" and now I am freaking out because I didn't report that when I filed. Does this need to be reported? It is pretty much a part refund from the school we paid for with student loans.

The debt that caused me to file is $34,000 in credit card debt that I stopped paying in 2010 after I lost my job.

I would ask the self help center lawyer but I filed and he is booked for a very long time now.

[TXskyblue]

Google says Arizona is a community property state, so her debts are your debts and vice versa. I believe you have to list her debts, even if she is not filing.

Regarding the tax credit, that's part of your taxes and needs to be included when you provide the requested tax forms to the trustee. It's not income.

[bluediamond2077]

Google says Arizona is a community property state, so her debts are your debts and vice versa. I believe you have to list her debts, even if she is not filing.

Regarding the tax credit, that's part of your taxes and needs to be included when you provide the requested tax forms to the trustee. It's not income.

Thanks for the post, but I am mixed up. The lawyer said that we didn't have to list her debts as long as the balance was zero for her debts on the day I filed. We paid off her cards one day before I filed and didn’t list her debts. Is that preferential payment? The lawyer was in the self help center and was young out of law school so I’m worried.

It is now filed should I do anything? Her bank statements will show that she paid cap one and all the credit cards every month never carrying a balance.

We are in an extremely odd spot being we didn’t have any income for 4 years and lived on student loans. We didn't list the student loans because our lawyer said not to . Is the trustee is going to probably think I’m hiding some thing or some drug dealer.