Husband laid off...now what?

[Billssuck]

Hi,

Just got word today that my husband is being laid off from work effective November 1st through the winter season (he works in the landscape/nursery business). This has never happened before in previous years. Anyway, so many thoughts are running through my mind and I would appreciate some advice/comments.

I am supposed to be getting a significant promotion in January at my job. But I won't know the exact amount of that promotion till about April as I will be on probation for 3 months before I am a contracted employee. During the 3 month probation period, I will get paid very well for the time period but I am unsure how much. What I'm basically saying is, I won't know what my regular new paycheck will be until April when I'm contracted/salaried.

During the meantime, what do we do? Any advice? My husband will apply for unemployment and is/has been feverishly looking for a new job. We are gonna move out of our house to my mother's house to save on heating/electricity during the cold months (save about $250/mo). We are going to cancel our cell phones, life insurance, Aflac Insurance, make our son pay his own car insurance (he's 19), cancel Satellite TV, and cut every corner we can to scrape through. I don't believe it will be enough though. I was thinking about calling our mortgage company and seeing if we could defer two months on our mortgage (outside of the plan). I know I will need to talk to my lawyer about all of this and we will have to run everything by the trustee as well. But we may only need a few months gap to get us through.

As far as our chapter 13 goes, everything is current: trustee payment, mortgages, student loans, etc. But after November 1st, our income will be very unpredicable until after April. Can we even think about converting to a CH7 with it like this? After April, my husband could be back at work and I will be making alot more. CH7 doesn't seem appropriate then since we'll have more money then (most likely). What do you all advise?

Thanks for reading this long one.

[lrprn]

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's sudden layoff

You are right - the first thing to do is discuss all this with your lawyer. Some trustees will be lenient under circumstances like this and allow you to miss a Ch 13 payment or two. Find out if this is a possibility for you or not.

If you live in a bigger town or city, there might be holiday season temp jobs your husband can get to help bridge your income gap until next spring when your more permanent income will be clearer.

I wish there was something more I could offer - this seems so feeble against what is happening to you two.....hang in there! Keep us posted on what your lawyer says, ok?

[BigJohn]

Hi,

Just got word today that my husband is being laid off from work effective November 1st through the winter season (he works in the landscape/nursery business). This has never happened before in previous years. Anyway, so many thoughts are running through my mind and I would appreciate some advice/comments.

I am supposed to be getting a significant promotion in January at my job. But I won't know the exact amount of that promotion till about April as I will be on probation for 3 months before I am a contracted employee. During the 3 month probation period, I will get paid very well for the time period but I am unsure how much. What I'm basically saying is, I won't know what my regular new paycheck will be until April when I'm contracted/salaried.

During the meantime, what do we do? Any advice? My husband will apply for unemployment and is/has been feverishly looking for a new job. We are gonna move out of our house to my mother's house to save on heating/electricity during the cold months (save about $250/mo). We are going to cancel our cell phones, life insurance, Aflac Insurance, make our son pay his own car insurance (he's 19), cancel Satellite TV, and cut every corner we can to scrape through. I don't believe it will be enough though. I was thinking about calling our mortgage company and seeing if we could defer two months on our mortgage (outside of the plan). I know I will need to talk to my lawyer about all of this and we will have to run everything by the trustee as well. But we may only need a few months gap to get us through.

As far as our chapter 13 goes, everything is current: trustee payment, mortgages, student loans, etc. But after November 1st, our income will be very unpredicable until after April. Can we even think about converting to a CH7 with it like this? After April, my husband could be back at work and I will be making alot more. CH7 doesn't seem appropriate then since we'll have more money then (most likely). What do you all advise?

Thanks for reading this long one.

I see you are in a 3 year plan. Talk to your lawyer about not paying for 3 - 6 months and have the months added to your plan. Our lawyer seems to do this all the time.

Of course there is a lawyer's fee attached to doing this but the cost should not be that much.

[Flamingo]

What you need to do as the others state is discuss in full with your attorney who will advise you as to your particular situation. You will have to actually wait for the layoff to occur and your promotion with any increase in income as your Plan cannot be based on future financial events; it is based on what was in place at the moment of filing. Your hubby will need documentation of the layoff to provide to your attorney for the trustee and how long the layoff is expected to be and the same will apply as to any increae in income for you with your promotion. They will also need the amount of his unemployment compensation and when that starts.

Realize it is not the end of the world and your attorney will work all this through for you. The more open and honest you are about the situation with your attorney the better off you will be. Your plan can probably be modified for a while or some payments missed and added on at the end or otherwise...

[Billssuck]

Big John,

Thanks for your comment. If you notice, I'm only paying $125/mo and not paying that amount for 3-6 months isn't gonna help much when we're loosing about $2K a month. I don't think even with doing that and squeezing my expenses as tight as I can will help us to make it through. I'm really thinking (haven't talked yet to my lawyer) about trying to convert to a ch7. I am willing to let a car (one of my non-exempt assets) and our house go ($2k/mo) if need be. We shall see what the lawyer says.

Thanks again!

Erica

P.S. Yes, we did qualify for a ch7 before we filed (under median and no DMI) but we went with a ch13 (made the DMI fit by taking down our expenses) for the car, the house, some business expense income that would have been argued in a 7, and a couple of other matters.