Live-in girlfriend... filing as one person household

[kel9000]

Lawyer said, (paraphrasing), "She's your girlfriend. You've never been married. All your accounts are separate, all filings have been separate, her car's hers, yours is yours, etc. etc.. It's a roommate situation. Household size is one. Now, how big is your household?".

I got his point, and answered, "One".

We rent, everything is exempt (no asset). Just CC debt. Fairly straightforward Chap 7. Seven years lived in the same apartment together. I pay rent, she pays utilities. This is all in the expenses portion of the filing and is all on the up-and-up.

Even if she was included in my household size for median income calculations, we'd still be well under the median. I just did not want to make her drag out her financial records and suffer the indignity of dragging her not-so-good financial state out into public.

What are the chances the trustee will dig in and say this is a two person household? And if so, do I have to totally re-file, or just amend some of the forms?

This is in no way fraud and that does not concern me... as I understand it, some trustees use the IRS definition of "household" and others use the Census definition, with conflicting different court opinions. We're using the IRS definition.

What are the chances the trustee will make an issue of this? And if so, do I have to re-file totally, or just amend some of the forms.

Many thanks in advance.

[Flamingo]

If you've discussed this with your attorney he/she should know the situation when it comes to your district and would have advised you otherwise if there would be an issue. One thing that may come up is how you would be able to afford what you were doing previously before filling...i.e., the extra money had to come from somewhere for you to be able to afford to stay there by yourself. If her credit is separate, she would not be dragged into your BK and the only thing in question would be her income as being part of your "household" income.

[Floridagail]

I was able to file single chpt 7 in same sitution as you. No problem. I was below Median no question asked.

[dumpinmydebt]

The Census just counts people living in the house, but BK is a legal action. You are not legally attached to your g/f so I do not see how they can come after her.

[oregonpilot]

kel...
i also had similar situation. Living with S.O in His home. .
Filed single. I pay him 150. month for rent and 1/2 utilities .
We both put in an equal amt of cash each month into a bread pan. We call it our Dough Pan (hehe)
and when we buy groceries, etc, we take the amt out of the pan
i pay for my own cell. My own car insurance. Gas.....
1 Attorney kept telling me i had to include his income and all the rest of his stuff. Had filing interview with one of the other attorneys in the office. Told her that every thing financial we keep TOTALLY separate. Also told her i had no obligation to anything and could move out that day if i wanted to. She went and talked to senior partner, came back and said ok. It's just YOU. We Put down for all expense totals .... half of water, sewer, electric, phone/internet.
It was never questioned by trustee. I thought it might be cuz my utilities and rent payments were so small.
I was so glad cuz i didn't want him involved in my mess.

[IHateThis]

I am in a similar situation with my girlfriend.

We divide up most of the expenses.

She is filing - I am not. We have only lived together for 1 year.

Do we just divide the expenses in half????

Do I show my contribution to the expenses?

[kel9000]

Yippee! Had my 341... attorney said it was the quickest one he'd ever had... Trustee ended up asking if I was single or married, I said single. This is where I took the advice so often said, to just answer the question, and don't offer information not asked. So I did not say, "I'm living with my girlfriend" but just answered his question.

> Do we just divide the expenses in half????

> Do I show my contribution to the expenses?

I pay all the rent, gf pays all utilities, and I filed it as such. I took the standard IRS deduction for food expenses for myself (we pretty much buy what is needed, and we each cook).

[Scarlett1234]

We are in a similar situation, is your rent about the same amount as all utilities? If the rent is a lot higher than utilities, wouldn't it invoke a question that if you are filing bankruptcy and she isnt, why you are paying a lot more monthly than she does? My boyfriend has always paid rent and I am not sure if we should start to split it to avoid questions like this.

[oregonpilot]

Awesome kel.
Doesn't that feel so good to have that done. Trustee never asked me if i was living with someone. AND i never offered that information. For weeks before my 341 my S.O. (DH now) would out of the blue say...YES, NO, I DON'T KNOW ...right??? I sure learned here that don't offer anything more than what is asked .