I have read the articles available on this site, which is why I am even more confused than I already was. Based on what I have read, our attorney is being more strict than she should be. I just need someone to tell me if this is how the system really works, or if there is something seriously wrong here.
We decided to file chapter 13 and met with the attorney a few weeks back. We gave an approximate detail of our monthly expenses from a worksheet they asked us to fill out. We met several times providing required documentation. Based on the information requested we were put on a 100% payback plan for 40 months. The monthly figure is actually more than we pay to credit cards currently. They took 100% of our income not documented by the worksheets as disposable income. The attorney became agitated with us when we began asking if certain monthly expenses could be deducted such as educational expenses. She said that we never told her about those expenses, but we never knew we were supposed to. She handed us a piece of paper and told us to write down everything that we spend each month. She doubted that they would be considered, but she said she would try. It would be up to us to prove to the trustee that these are actually valid expenses, but chances are they would be considered a luxury.
As it is right now, if we end up having an electric bill increase, we will not be able to pay it since it was not accounted for in our initial expense worksheet. If my child gets sick, I cannot pay the doctor, because we did not plan for that expense prior to filing. She said that our estimated expense of $70 a month for car maintenance is too high, but our car has almost 100 thousand miles on it. We put more into that each year to keep it going. What happens if we have to replace something that will cost more? What happens if our property taxes go up, or our medical premiums go up?
We expect to be on a strict budget, but isn't there some sort of cushion in case of an unforeseen emergency?
We expected our attorney to help us through the process since we have no idea what we are doing. Isn't it the attorney's job to tell us what can and cannot be deducted? We are being told that everything else is a luxury and cannot be considered. They did not even deduct our FSA as a monthly expense and now want us to prove the FSA is legitimate. If the federal gov't considers it legit, shouldn't our trustee?
Help!
We decided to file chapter 13 and met with the attorney a few weeks back. We gave an approximate detail of our monthly expenses from a worksheet they asked us to fill out. We met several times providing required documentation. Based on the information requested we were put on a 100% payback plan for 40 months. The monthly figure is actually more than we pay to credit cards currently. They took 100% of our income not documented by the worksheets as disposable income. The attorney became agitated with us when we began asking if certain monthly expenses could be deducted such as educational expenses. She said that we never told her about those expenses, but we never knew we were supposed to. She handed us a piece of paper and told us to write down everything that we spend each month. She doubted that they would be considered, but she said she would try. It would be up to us to prove to the trustee that these are actually valid expenses, but chances are they would be considered a luxury.
As it is right now, if we end up having an electric bill increase, we will not be able to pay it since it was not accounted for in our initial expense worksheet. If my child gets sick, I cannot pay the doctor, because we did not plan for that expense prior to filing. She said that our estimated expense of $70 a month for car maintenance is too high, but our car has almost 100 thousand miles on it. We put more into that each year to keep it going. What happens if we have to replace something that will cost more? What happens if our property taxes go up, or our medical premiums go up?
We expect to be on a strict budget, but isn't there some sort of cushion in case of an unforeseen emergency?
We expected our attorney to help us through the process since we have no idea what we are doing. Isn't it the attorney's job to tell us what can and cannot be deducted? We are being told that everything else is a luxury and cannot be considered. They did not even deduct our FSA as a monthly expense and now want us to prove the FSA is legitimate. If the federal gov't considers it legit, shouldn't our trustee?
Help!
Bankruptcy Wizard
but at least I know I'll get it done right.
Comment