Filing 13 with ??

[Gunterwoman]

Hello all,
my husband and I will be filing a chapter 13 in a month with the help of an attorney. I’ll give you a little background, my husband and I live in Nevada and have a mortgage which is current. In addition to my husband and I we also have our adult son and his daughter living with us due to his financial hardship. He does have a job but does not pay rent as he cannot afford to pay that and support his daughter. He is not a dependent we can claim on taxes. My question here is would we be able to include him and his daughter in regards to household size when it comes to the Nevada median household size chart ie; 4 instead of 2?

the vast majority of our debt is unsecured except a camp trailer. Our mortgage is current. My question here is do we have to include our mortgage in the BK or can we pay this outside of our trustee payment?

I have gone over the allowable living expenses for our state and I literally pay double what they allow for mortgage, power, water, gas, cable, phone and internet. I live in a old 5000 sq ft home. How does this fact get addressed?

Our income is to high for a chapter 7.

Im meeting with my attorney in a week and will pose these same questions however if anybody can offer insight before then I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to read 😄

[justbroke]

Welcome to BK Forum!

My question here is would we be able to include him and his daughter in regards to household size when it comes to the Nevada median household size chart ie; 4 instead of 2?

You can use them for your household size, but the Trustee "could" question this. ALso, if they contribute to the household expenses, you must offset that expense by the contribution amount(s). For example, say you have a $2,000/month mortgage. Your adult children, who are working and not in college, have jobs and each give $250/month towards the mortgage. This will actually make it more interesting because they are contributing $500/month towards the mortgage. That contribution would need to be included somewhere (likely in your "income").

the vast majority of our debt is unsecured except a camp trailer. Our mortgage is current. My question here is do we have to include our mortgage in the BK or can we pay this outside of our trustee payment?

Everything is always included in the bankruptcy. You can't leave out any debt. However, certain districts (and States) allow the payment of secured debt "outside the plan." The term "outside the plan" is used to indicate debt that is paid directly to the creditor rather than by the Trustee. This can save you money if you are in a 0% plan (because things paid "through" the Trustee must pay the Trustee their 10% commission).

I have gone over the allowable living expenses for our state and I literally pay double what they allow for mortgage, power, water, gas, cable, phone and internet. I live in a old 5000 sq ft home. How does this fact get addressed?

Don't worry about the mortgage amounts, but the Trustee will complain about cable, phone and internet. If you go outside the normal "non-rent" expense, which includes water, electricity, gas, basic cable and phone, then you need a really compelling reason. I had a $850/month electric bill in the summer, but fixed that with some mitigation (window treatments and smart thermostat). That reduced my summer electric bill to around $450/month. Huge savings.

Our income is to high for a chapter 7.

This is too much of a blanket statement. My income was more than 3X the median and I still filed with negative DMI. It was the house, the two cars, and the IRS debt that showed that I couldn't fund a Chapter 13. But I filed a Chapter 13 originally to save some investment property. I later converted to Chapter 7 and had no issues at all (although it was non-consumer).

Im meeting with my attorney in a week and will pose these same questions however if anybody can offer insight before then I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to read 😄

The attorney may in fact differ from what I wrote based on their experience. I speak from personal experience and what I have seen here on BKForum over the last 12 years. Some of the answers may be a little more nuanced because they need to dig deeper into your finances and income to see the greater picture.

[Gunterwoman]

Thank you for your response it was helpful. I’m nervous and somewhat scared after seeing our budget and we are still 200 short at the end of the month, (courtesy of pre-filing credit counseling ).

[justbroke]

I know how you feel. On the day of filing, I didn't have enough money to take a taxi back home. I had $20 in my pocket. I calculated how far the taxi could take me (6 miles from home) and was dropped off at a hotel. I had to call "collect" (don't know if people remember that) to have someone come pick me up. This was because you couldn't have a cell phone in the courthouse and I didn't drive there!

But, I felt like 1,000,000 bucks even with the $20 in my pocket.

[flashoflight]

In my district, the water, gas, and power are fine. Just submit bills that back up your numbers and maybe an explanation like elderly live in the house. With cable, cell, and internet, submit bills without cutting your services down but the trustee might cut you down. You will eventually want to slash expenses aggressively, especially the cable tv.
The ones that survive the 13 are those who budget and cut down their expenses. No more paying double the guidelines unless unavoidable.