severance pay affecting disposable income

[wrenegade]

I filed pro se Ch. 13 this week (need to file schedules in 15 days) and am having issues with the means test and disposable income. I am filing by myself but must include my wife's income. My wife was laid off from her job the first week of May and received a severance check of approx. $7,500 gross (it amounted to about $4,000 after taxes). She has been on unemployment ever since, approx. $209 a week.
The severance income averaged over six months is making it appear as if we have a huge amount of disposable income -- approx. 1,600 a month -- when, in fact, our current disposable income is really about $1,000 less now that she's not working. I'm not going to be able to afford $1,600 monthly payments to the trustee.
Do trustees strictly adhere to the disposable income reported on Form 22-C or do they take into account one-time instances that can affect income and what that income might be going forward?

[lrprn]

I filed pro se Ch. 13 this week (need to file schedules in 15 days) and am having issues with the means test and disposable income.

Not surprising. Ch 13 is far more complicated and has a lot more 'gray' areas than Ch 7. This is why 99.9% of Ch 13 filers use a lawyer - even if you are broke, you can stop paying unsecureds to pay a part of the retainer and then roll the remainder into your plan to be paid after filing in your Ch 13 payment. Did you consider going down this path?

I am filing by myself but must include my wife's income.

I hope you don't live in a community property state. Do you?

Do trustees strictly adhere to the disposable income reported on Form 22-C or do they take into account one-time instances that can affect income and what that income might be going forward?

By law, the trustee must take whatever income was earned in the last six months whether it was a one-time event or not.

However, only the amount your wife contributes to running the household will actually be counted when calculating your disposable income. Did you take that into account?

Also what does your disposable income show as when you complete the Schedules (Schedule I minus Schedule J)?