CH 13 income means test calculation question

[alaska708]

I currently live with another person in Texas, am not married but did file joint taxes last year with them. We’re having problems and do not want their income figured into my upcoming CH 13 case as the relationship seems rocky and they may not be here in 3-4 months.

Has anyone experienced this? Just refuse to have their income calculated here for my case.

Am going to tell my attorney I live alone, am filing taxes next week as single and adding these due taxes to my CH 13 case.

[justbroke]

Yes I have, but I did get married after filing.

The bottom line is this: if you're not married then their income doesn't count, their name is not on your petition, and you can't include them (generally) in your household count.

Of course there are exceptions.

• To the extent that they pay for or contribute to your household expenses, you must deduct that part.
• If you 100% support them and they have been listed as a dependent on your federal tax return for some period of time (do not ask me what period of time), then it is likely you could include them in your household size.
• If they are a co-debtor on any debt (e.g., a joint credit card, joint vehicle ownership, etc.), you would need to list them as a co-debtor (there's a specific form/schedule for this)

Your problem is that you filed a joint income tax return. That blows away all of the exceptions and the general rule. I'm not a tax specialist and not an attorney so I'll just ponder my thoughts. You filed as a married couple probably using common-law marriage as the hook. This is going to be problematic. My thoughts are that this will cause issues if you are now, all of the sudden, not "married filing jointly" for the purposes of the bankruptcy, but you were for tax reasons. Your tax filing status doesn't affect how your income is calculated in a (joint or individual) bankruptcy when you are married... but gives the bankruptcy trustee some inclination as to your family status.

I highly suggest finding 4-5 bankruptcy attorneys that will give you a free consultation. Your specific issue is that you have recognized your relationship as a legal couple and I don't know what that does to you in Texas. You will need a strategy and good legal advice because jointly held property could become even more problematic. You are holding yourself out as a married couple and have memorialized that on a tax return.

That "not-married" but "living together" and filed "joint" taxes is going to cause some issues. You may need to figure out whether you must actually file a dissolution lawsuit to clean up any potential pitfalls of holding yourself out as a married couple. You may have to amend your taxes to reflect the true status (I make no assumptions here and do not know the implications of such an amendment). There are just too many legal issues here and I can't address them.

[Carmella]

I agree to talk to an attorney(s) so you do it the best way. My husband and I filed together and didn't intend to divorce, but our attorney asked us more than once if there was any chance, we would divorce/split up in the next few years. I figure it must be important to know this since we were asked a few times.

[shipo]

I agree to talk to an attorney(s) so you do it the best way. My husband and I filed together and didn't intend to divorce, but our attorney asked us more than once if there was any chance, we would divorce/split up in the next few years. I figure it must be important to know this since we were asked a few times.

Agreed, my wife and I separated before we both filed independently, her a Chapter 7, me a Chapter 13; my attorney would have been happier if we'd gotten divorced, but we lived in two locations so that proved to be good enough. I'm glad we didn't divorce because a few years later we ended up getting back together.