What are allowable expenses for Schedule J?

[Zen]

Am I allowed to include things like Rent to Own Furniture payments (i.e. a TV) or things like fines and fees owed to courts? Or would these not be considered necessary monthly expenses?

[justbroke]

Court fines and fees are definitely expenses since they are legally required. Renting a TV may not be considered an allowable expense but Trustee don't necessarily scrutinize everyone's expenses (specially if you are under-the-median). You should look at expenses that you may not think about which you have. Laundry and dry cleaning, over-the-counter medical expenses, insurance (life), insurance (car), taxes not included with pay (non-income taxes such as property tax and maybe even automobile registration costs), repair costs, etc. I don't have anything handy, but you should obtain a guide such as the NoLo's Guide to Filing Bankruptcy and look for some common but overlooked expenses.

[Zen]

Thanks for the reply. I am well below the median for North Dakota, and also have a small sole proprietorship that I did not include the taxes for (though only $900 profit so far). Have been thinking about the NOLO book, but mostly have been researching among the web and Title 11 Code directly. I do seem to repair my car every 2- 3 months something breaks so I could factor that in. Essentially I qualify for Chapter 7 if I can include the fines and fees, my college expenses, and a few other miscellaneous expenses including the Rent to Own (which may be justified alone by the Credit Reporting factor) but I was confused on what may or may not be allowable. I probably could fund a Chapter 13 but I don't feel as though I have as much money as Schedule J seems to allow for. A lot of moving in the last 2 years, as well as job changes and pay raises seem to make the schedule a bit artificially high. Thanks again for your time this was essentially the only thing I was stuck on before filing but will still be visiting with an attorney Wednesday!