Can wife quit part time job whlie in 13 ?

[maddog2112]

Whats the rule on quitting a parttime job while in a 13? Between babysitting cost and all the money going to trustee, is it worth it?

[Flamingo]

Was she working this job when your filed? If so and her income was included in the Plan plus babysitting expenses, a call to your attorney is in order since there would be a change in your income.

[maddog2112]

Yes, it was a partime temp job that she took before we filed 27 mos ago to try and keep up with the bills.Is she now an indentured servant to the trustee or could shequit to stay home and raise the kids? All our payback comes out of my check. How did you get an early buy out? Did you have to payback a 100%?

[Flamingo]

Yes, it was a partime temp job that she took before we filed 27 mos ago to try and keep up with the bills.Is she now an indentured servant to the trustee or could shequit to stay home and raise the kids? All our payback comes out of my check. How did you get an early buy out? Did you have to payback a 100%?

I would never tell someone to quit a job in your situation without first consulting with your attorney. The trustee is in charge of your entire financial state during your Plan and when you need to make any financial decisions, it's best to always check with your attorney before proceeding cause you can risk dismissal. We filed under the "Old" law and therefore after 3 years could "buy out" of a Plan early with Trustee approval. Our Plan was at 54%. In our situation, we needed major house repairs which could not wait (needed a new roof badly) so we were allowed to refinance, obtain the cash for the house repairs and also pay off our Plan. We had a ton of equity in the house as we went into the Plan with a low mortgage balance with a lot of equity and refinanced just at the 4 year mark. We still have a lot of equity as we did not go overboard with the refinancing. It appears early buy outs are not allowed under the "new" law.

[woeisme]

Your plan was based on the wife's income. If she quits her job, could you still make your payments to the trustee? If you aren't planning on asking for a modification to your plan, and can continue to make your plan payments, then I don't see a problem. But if you think this is a way to lower your plan payments, then I think you are going to be surprised at how hard it is to modify your plan to take into account the reduction of income. My husband had to go onto total disability a year into our plan, which reduced his income by 50%, and we weren't able to modify our plan (basically were told that we had to tighten our belts and make do) and we had a much stronger case (disability as opposed to a choice to quit a job).

[parsoc48]

Woeisme,
that is really scary...decrease by 50% and you told, essentially...tough s...., suck it up?! yikes. We're trying to plan for my husband's retirement and haven't gotten any answer from the attny. yet. Sigh
The OP seems to be in a better position as his wife's PT job isn't contributing to the plan and may be detrimental to the family in terms of child care, etc. but yes, ALWAYS get clearance from attny (hopefully they're responsive!) and trustee for any changes.

[woeisme]

parsoc48, our whole situation was a little more complicated than I let on in my message, since I wanted to get across the point that a reduction in income doesn't necessarily equal a reduction in plan payments. My hubby lost ~$1400/month from his normal salary to disability pay, but since filing I'd gotten a raise of ~$400/month since filing, he no longer had commuting costs ~$300-400/month, and we no longer needed after school care for our son ~$200/month, we were basically told to suck it up and make it work, although we were able to get a 3-month temporary suspension of payments while we waited to get the disability approved since he was bringing in $0 until the paperwork went through. But I do know that the truste looks at the totality of the circumstances, just because income decreases doesn't mean payment will too, since there might be a corresponding decrease in expenses, as was our case.

[maddog2112]

Talk about a catch22. She got the part time job 6 mos before we filed to try and keep up with the bills. It was used to compute the monthly payment. Of course the hours have varied up and down for the last couple of years, usually between 16 and 28 hours a week. It looked like the job would be over , but now it`s been reduced to 18 hours weekly. It`s a temp job and for the trouble it is trying to guess what income will come in and trying to schedule babysitters for our 2 kids, it would be nice to just give it up and see where we lay. It`s still possible it may end soon and the uncertainty sucks.

[sassiebaz]

Talk about a catch22. She got the part time job 6 mos before we filed to try and keep up with the bills. It was used to compute the monthly payment. Of course the hours have varied up and down for the last couple of years, usually between 16 and 28 hours a week. It looked like the job would be over , but now it`s been reduced to 18 hours weekly. It`s a temp job and for the trouble it is trying to guess what income will come in and trying to schedule babysitters for our 2 kids, it would be nice to just give it up and see where we lay. It`s still possible it may end soon and the uncertainty sucks.

I would suggest she stay home and watch a couple of kids herself. I did that when my kids were real young. That can help supplement your income, if it is at all realistic for her to do something like that.

[frustrated7]

It never ceases to amaze me that filers are punished for trying to make ends meet when struggling before they file. Work tons of overtime, get a second job, cut expenses like crazy, and then when you actually file...aw shucks, you have disposable income here, let's force you into a Chapter 13. They almost did that to us, but we waited a few extra months before we filed to get the Chapter 7. We could have NEVER made it through a 13, hubby's income is way too erratic.

I agree with what others said about talking to your attorney. Let us know what you find out.

[CH33 Paralegal]

most likely your budget shows that you have just enough money left over at the end of the month to make the trustee payment. if your wife's income was used to create this budget, then that makes the case infeasible if she quits. You can always amend your budget, but it needs to be a reasonable budget.

It will not change your trustee payment in the slightest by itself. Maybe there are some claims that didn't come in or maybe claims that came back lower....that could maybe lower the payment, but the absence of the job does not change what is owed.

[CH33 Paralegal]

It never ceases to amaze me that filers are punished for trying to make ends meet when struggling before they file. Work tons of overtime, get a second job, cut expenses like crazy, and then when you actually file...aw shucks, you have disposable income here, let's force you into a Chapter 13. They almost did that to us, but we waited a few extra months before we filed to get the Chapter 7. We could have NEVER made it through a 13, hubby's income is way too erratic.

I agree with what others said about talking to your attorney. Let us know what you find out.

You know, there is a saying that bankruptcy punishes the responsible person.

[maddog2112]

I talked to a second lawyer today, as mine hasn`t been much help yet. My wifes hours have been cut drastically as well as mine and we still will not have enough leftover to fund the 13. Looks like we may have to wait 3 more months to show the change in our income, since this all started 3 months ago. I`m going to try and talk my lawyer into putting in for a 3 month suspension of payments. Here we go!

[Billssuck]

I was in a similiar situation. I worked three jobs trying hard to make ends meet before seriously contemplating filing BK. But we couldn't juggle things any longer and those two extra jobs weren't making a dent in our $2,500 deficit each month. So...the extra income was counted in our last six months income but luckily for us, we were still under the median by $800 for a year (whew...close). Anyhow, I am also fortunate in that those two jobs were seasonal (part time tax preparer ended April 15th, and a subtitute teacher ended when school got out for the summer). All we had to do in our case was explain that these two jobs had ended for the reasons listed above and we did not include them in our anticipated income to to determine our DMI. So...it worked for us so far (waiting on 341 hearing date).

As far as you go, I would think you could show that there isn't a financial benefit by her working the extra job with having to pay babysitters for the children. I hope your request for a 3 month suspension goes well. In today's economy, any of us could still loose our jobs or hours of pay. I know I worry about that with my husband's job and pray that it will continue as is.

[maddog2112]

Why are you filing a 13 if your under the median income? Just curious.