Well, the wife and I went to our attorneys office yesterday, planning on signing the final draft of our Ch 7 petition so that we could file it.
Just as we're finishing up, we ask about the "gross yearly income" amounts on a couple of forms as they are different from each other. He looks at them, says he needs to look at my pay stubs and he'll be right back.... he comes back 5 minutes later and says, "we have a problem".
He has looked at my pay stubs (I guess for the first time) and noticed that they have two different "gross" wages figures... a "w2 gross" and a "total gross"... the total gross includes the money that my employer pays for my medical. The W2 gross does not. See, my employer has a "cafeteria" style benefits plan, each year they give us "flex dollars" and we choose a medical, dental etc. plan and use those "flex dollars" to pay for the plan. We HAVE to choose a plan, we can't just say, "hey, I'd like to opt out of the medical coverage and keep the $1000 a month extra that you pay for it". So it's mandatory.
My attorney says that the trustee/judge may look at this as income... well, this would add about $12,000/year to my income and push me about $300 over the median income.... and into a chapter 13.
Well, I take a look at all the figures and note that on ONE paycheck about 4 months ago, I earned about $500 extra due to a one-time event (I'm salary and don't normally get overtime)... well, this $500 is what pushes me over the limit. If we wait 2 months before we file, then the 6 months worth of paycheck stubs that they use to calculate my total income will not include this "one time" earnings.... and thus I'll be about $200 below the median income and back into a chapter 7.
My attorney says that he's not positive that the trustee will look at the "total gross" figure... but that it COULD happen.... and that would be bad as if we file and that happens, we're toast. We can't just back out and say "never mind". He's going to research it some more this week and try to see if there is any clarifying law on this... but so far all he's been able to find is a wonderfully vague statement that could mean anything that the trustee/judge WANTS it to.
DAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDA MN!
I REALLY wanted to get this going and now I get to sit and fret and worry and stress for two MORE months over whether or not I'm going to get sued before I file... or wonder if there are any OTHER mistakes or problems that will end up pushing us to a ch 13 etc. etc. etc.... and THEN the process can hopefully start.... and I'll STILL have several months of worrying and waiting to see what else will go wrong!
Just as we're finishing up, we ask about the "gross yearly income" amounts on a couple of forms as they are different from each other. He looks at them, says he needs to look at my pay stubs and he'll be right back.... he comes back 5 minutes later and says, "we have a problem".
He has looked at my pay stubs (I guess for the first time) and noticed that they have two different "gross" wages figures... a "w2 gross" and a "total gross"... the total gross includes the money that my employer pays for my medical. The W2 gross does not. See, my employer has a "cafeteria" style benefits plan, each year they give us "flex dollars" and we choose a medical, dental etc. plan and use those "flex dollars" to pay for the plan. We HAVE to choose a plan, we can't just say, "hey, I'd like to opt out of the medical coverage and keep the $1000 a month extra that you pay for it". So it's mandatory.
My attorney says that the trustee/judge may look at this as income... well, this would add about $12,000/year to my income and push me about $300 over the median income.... and into a chapter 13.
Well, I take a look at all the figures and note that on ONE paycheck about 4 months ago, I earned about $500 extra due to a one-time event (I'm salary and don't normally get overtime)... well, this $500 is what pushes me over the limit. If we wait 2 months before we file, then the 6 months worth of paycheck stubs that they use to calculate my total income will not include this "one time" earnings.... and thus I'll be about $200 below the median income and back into a chapter 7.
My attorney says that he's not positive that the trustee will look at the "total gross" figure... but that it COULD happen.... and that would be bad as if we file and that happens, we're toast. We can't just back out and say "never mind". He's going to research it some more this week and try to see if there is any clarifying law on this... but so far all he's been able to find is a wonderfully vague statement that could mean anything that the trustee/judge WANTS it to.
DAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDA MN!
I REALLY wanted to get this going and now I get to sit and fret and worry and stress for two MORE months over whether or not I'm going to get sued before I file... or wonder if there are any OTHER mistakes or problems that will end up pushing us to a ch 13 etc. etc. etc.... and THEN the process can hopefully start.... and I'll STILL have several months of worrying and waiting to see what else will go wrong!
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