Any Recent Luck Annualizing Bonus Income?

[Nextgen]

I read of a case, think was in MA where petitioner argued that using an annual bonus payment created in inaccurate picture of income and allowed them to annualize the income.

Has anyone filed recently outside of MA and got that to work?

[kornellred]

For Chapter 13 filing, the look back period for income is 6 months. Whatever a debtor earned during that 6 month period, be it regular wages, overtime, bonus payments, stock dividends, you name it - multiplied by two and that result divided by twelve is the monthly gross income figure that is used to determine how much disposable income there will be to devote to a payment plan. A good BK attorney might be able to argue one-time extraordinary payments made to the debtor out of the picture, but it's pretty much the "luck of the draw" in most cases.
My own Chapter 13 was filed just two weeks before my annual incentive check arrived, and my income was determined only upon what I earned in the 6 months prior to filing. Additionally, most of the overtime that I might work occurs outside of the time frame that was being considered. I have a single income source and no investment income, so my calculated monthly income for purposes of filing Chapter 13 was much lower than it actually is.
It would be far too tedious to calculate Chapter 13 payments based upon possible or expected future income, and you have to begin somewhere, so the current method is the compromise that was agreed upon by the lawmakers.