My wife has come to the realization that BK is inevitable at this point, but our pre-planning has hit a snag. I have resolved to stop paying my cards in February in order to make the mortgage for that month (we are coming up short because of her maternity leave), but after that she will be back to work until June, when she'll be laid off permanently. I mentioned to her that she should stop her cards as well in February so that we can use the cash to begin to stockpile food, diapers, clothing, general supplies, etc...so that once we are discharged and she is unemployed we'll be better prepared. She is a teacher, God bless her, and if you know anything about teachers, they are about rules and conformity. She keeps saying to me that she "can't justify" not paying her cards when she knows she has the money to do so, even though paying down the debts will be meaningless in the end since they'll be discharged in CH7. She also convinced that "it will look bad" if the trustee sees that she had the ability to pay the minimums and chose not to. I have tried every way of explaining to her about BK pre-planning, strategic default, and everything else I've learned here, but she just can't get past the idea that "it's wrong" to not pay even when you can.

She is, however, willing to listen to a lawyer (she's convinced that I must be mistaken about the legality of stopping payment on cards prior to BK), so the lawyer is going to back me up on this, correct? We are scheduling consultations for late January, so I hope that he or she can get through to her before she drops another $500 on minimums in February. Has anyone else has these kinds of difficulties with their spouse?