Schedule J, how does it look?

[ConnieS]

Would really like you honest opinion on how you think my income to expenses look. There are a few changes from what I originally submitted to my lawyer that I will be amending before we file.

We are going for a Chapter 7, under the state median income. Family of 4 with a combined monthly net income of 3643.50.

1st Mortgage 312.93
Home Equity 470.00
Property tax 183.00
Homeowners ins. 55.83
Electricity 140.00
Garbage 20.00
Telephone 68.00
Cell phone 85.00
Cable 45.00
Internet 10.00
Home Maintenance 150.00 (lot of work needs done)
Food 500.00
non food items 50.00
personal care 50.00
Clothing 150.00 ( 2 teenage girls)
Medical/dental 100.00 (copays and optical)
Prescriptions 100.00
Magazines, newspapers 20.00
Rec & entertainment 100.00
Gifts (holidays, xmas, etc.) 50.00
Church 100.00
Life insurance 40.00
Auto Insurance 80.00
Gasoline 260.00
Tires 20.00
Auto repairs 40.00 (old truck)
Auto maintenance 50.00
Auto tax and registration 15.00
Auto payment 175.00
Cosmetics 20.00
Haircuts 30.00
School lunches 100.00
work lunches 50.00
bank charges 6.00
postage 5.00
pet food supplies 80.00 (4 cats, 1 dog, 1 goat,
chickens
Kids misc. (allowance etc?) 80.00

Total 3810.76
puts us in the hole to the tune of about $160.

I feel I was as honest and as "fair" as I could possible be about all of my expenses. Do you think anything will raise a red flag or look out of wack?

Your input and opinins would be greatly appreciated

Thanks again
Connie

[anonymuse]

This may not be what you are looking for, but just wanted to know do you have a gas bill or is it included in your electric?

Not sure how you feed 4 people on $500. What is the IRS standard?

[ConnieS]

The gasoline bill is for the cars. $30 a week for each car. The $500 a month for groceries I figured strictly for food, the IRS standard is $685.

[anonymuse]

I'm talking natural gas--maybe it's not that common in your neck of the woods.

[ConnieS]

OOps, my bad We are total electric, heat, water, central air. No natural gas. That is why my electric is so high!

[alh]

Raise your food alowance closer to the IRS numbers. It won't get questioned and will give you some room on some of the other items.

[anonymuse]

The more you're in the hole, the better. That way, if the trustee argues some expense, you still have leeway to still be under $100 disposable income.

[lrprn]

Our lawyer told us since we had kept close track of all our living and household expenses for six months before we filed, he used those figures for our Ch 13 forms because they were defendable in court. He felt our trustee was less likely to reduce our allowed non-IRS-set expenses too much because we could show him exactly where the figures came from and that they were right in line for the community we live in. Since we aren't confirmed yet, I don't know yet whether our lawyer is right or not...sigh...

[anonymuse]

I agree with you lrprn. However, there is that one post to consider: "Don't be a hero--you won't get an award"

http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/showthread.php?p=33037#post33037

[lrprn]

Agree with you, Anon - setting up your expenses for the forms is most definitely not the time to scrimp! Give yourself reasonable expense figures that are close to (read: a bit padded on the high side ) with the average expenses in your community.

If you aren't sure what the average expenditures are in your area, check out http://realestate.yahoo.com/Neighborhoods . Enter your zip code or select your state and nearest city, then go to the Cost of Living section on the right to see average consumer utilities, household, education, entertainment, transportation, retail and non-retail expenditures for your area compared to national averages.

[krobin02]

GREAT link lprn!!!