Chapter 13 Questions?

[Chicken123]

I am working on trying to get my bankruptcy booklet filled out and I have a couple of questions, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Question 1 - Our daughters have EE Savings Bonds, the oldest bond being 14 yrs old. I purchased these at 25.00 for a 50.00 bond, my question is how do i go aout figuring out if these things are worth more than the $25.00 i paid for them, i'm thinking that EE's are 30 yr. bonds.

Question 2 - According to our bankruptcy booklet and worksheet we received from our attorney, I need to show "receipts" of our monthly expenses for 1 month, my question is can you start in the middle of the month or should i start May 1st, i guess i'm just worried that if i wait until the end of the month of May..the credit card companies are going to start coming after us with guns ablazin..attorney told us to stop paying at the end of March.

Question 3 - Also when showing clothing expense, I don't buy clothes every month of the year for my kids, nor do we go to the doctor every month of the year, so how can I show proof if I don't have any clothing and/or doctors receipts.

Question 4- I have to show proof on what i pay a month for my childs school lunches, will cancelled checks do?

[Billssuck]

Wow...you're being asked for alot of receipts and such. My attorney didn't give me a booklet like you mentioned and I am just to schedule a 3 1/2 meeting to complete our schedules and paperwork. However, I did start keeping all receipts beginning 1 April for my own budget. I also pay my babysitters with cash and I have been having them sign receipts for me this past month. Maybe that stuff will come in handy....

Sorry no answers from me here for your questions. I will be looking at people who answer this thread with hopes of helping my case too...

Good luck!

[hopeforus]

No advice other than to say not to worry about the creditors coming after you so soon. yeah you will get phone calls but as long as you can deal with them then you will be fine. We stopped paying in November and nothing scary yet.

[lrprn]

Question 1 - Our daughters have EE Savings Bonds, the oldest bond being 14 yrs old. I purchased these at 25.00 for a 50.00 bond, my question is how do i go aout figuring out if these things are worth more than the $25.00 i paid for them, i'm thinking that EE's are 30 yr. bonds.

Assuming your name is on the bonds as well as your daughters' names, you list them at their current value. Your bank should be able to help you sort that out. Just tell them it's for "estate planning"

Question 2 - According to our bankruptcy booklet and worksheet we received from our attorney, I need to show "receipts" of our monthly expenses for 1 month, my question is can you start in the middle of the month or should i start May 1st, i guess i'm just worried that if i wait until the end of the month of May..the credit card companies are going to start coming after us with guns ablazin..attorney told us to stop paying at the end of March.

Start collecting receipts now. Also go to your bank and request printouts of all checks written in the last year. Then go online and get printouts for all your credit cards going back the last year. You can recreate a lot of your spending this way and have reliable proof this is what you actually spent if it's questioned.

It's very important to realize that when filing Ch 13, you get some leeway in your expenses. You've probably been scrimping to the maximum on any discretionary spending for some time. You can't live on those real scrimped expenses for five years.

Ch 13 trustees have a maximum reasonable figure for every expense that they will allow without too many questions. Talk with your lawyer and find out what your trustee's maximums are for all of your "scrimped" expenses. Then increase to what is reasonable for your family.

Question 3 - Also when showing clothing expense, I don't buy clothes every month of the year for my kids, nor do we go to the doctor every month of the year, so how can I show proof if I don't have any clothing and/or doctors receipts.

The figures for your expenses are calculated by looking back a year, then dividing by 12. See my suggestion about pulling the last year's records for your bank accounts and credit cards in your Question 1 to find out approximately how much you spent on clothes over the last year. Then divide that figure by 12.

Question 4- I have to show proof on what i pay a month for my childs school lunches, will cancelled checks do?

Cancelled checks will be fine.

[Chicken123]

Thanks for all your suggestions, the help is greatly appreciated. I'm pretty sure I can go back and get all my credit card bills for the past year, that's pretty much how I paid for my kids clothes. And I will check with the bank on the other, one thing I did research and find...and thought this would be a little tidbit for other people in my situation, if you go to the US Government website for savings bonds, you can enter the type, serial #, date issued and it will tell you exactly how much that savings bond is worth as of the current month, and then you can add it to a saved list and print. I printed the list showing the total amount of my daughters savings bonds, and then also made copies just in case....easy as one, two, three!