Well - this may turn into a long post but here goes.
We have been planning our BK for several months. The main reason for our troubles is 2 fold - business income decreasing over 4th Q last year is part of it. The main reason however is my wifes medical problems that have caused us serious income loss and extra medical expenses since 2003. We have talked about the possibility that she won't be able to work much longer because she sufferes from chronic pain along with other less debilitating issues. We have discussed the inevitable circumstance that she may have to go on permament disability.
My wife had to take a medical leave in August and has not worked since then. She has short term and long term disability insurance at work. We also have a relative that works for a disability attorney - so his services to push her through to receive benefits are going to be free.
Our attorney was made aware of her medical history during our initial consultation. We kinda had the choice of a 7 or 13 because even though we were over the median our DMI is neg $1000.
We finally got filed November 24. On December 1st she had a follow-up appointment with the specialist working on her current issue (unrelated to the chronic pain thing). The doctor has one more procedure to put her through that requires a 6 week recovery. If she does not return to work by January 15th she will lose her job (6 month absence is automatic termination). She will not be ready to return by this date - so now we have to make some desicions.
We have decided that now is the time to pursue her permanent disability.
My wife is covered for 60 % of her normal fulltime pay in the short term. She is also covered for 60 % of her normal pay in the long term - up to 5 years. I don't know the timeframe for SS Disability payments or when she will be medically insured as such.
Our chapter 13 plan is filed - but no 341 yet. We are lien stripping our 2nd so we want to do a 13 to make that happen. Doing a 7 will likely cause us problems with our business - another reason to make sure we are in a 13.
The disability insurance company is finally paying benifits - but they ended November 30th until they receive more documentation from the doctors. The insurance company is really a PITA to deal with - both of my wife's doctors have expressed concerns with the rediculous amount of paperwork they are requesting. The current state of the disability insurance claim we are in the middle of is not at all like the last time she needed to miss work. I suspect the insurance company is in a weak position now with the economy and wants to make it extremely difficult to file a claim - oh well.
I emailed the attorney about her missing work well before we filed - he asked if we could afford our payment and the house 1st mortgage. At that time i didn't know what the payment would be but suspected it would be managable with the understaning that the wife was going back to work.
Now things have changed - our future income is now more uncertain than it was the day we filed. I have not yet told the attorney about this new issue but plan to on Monday because I think he needs to know.
Now the questions:
1. Do i need to let the attorney know about this? I think we can afford to do the plan as it stands providing my wifes disability income is stable at 60% of past history.
2. What about the increased expense we now have due to COBRA at $350ish per month? That was not included in the plan. The insurance company stopped her coverage after 84 days out from work and we absolutely must continue to have health coverage for her untill SS benefits kick in.
3. The attorney wants us to pay the 2nd mortgage until the strip is done - NOT paying it would kinda wash with the COBRA payment. Would you ask him if you could stop paying the 2nd now if you were in my shoes?
The timing of this whole thing sucks - because our 341 is January 5th and she will not have technically lost her job till the January 15th.
4. If we just ride this through - what do we say to the Trustee when she asks "Has anything changed since you filed?"
We are kinda taking it a day at a time so far - we HAVE made our first payment to the trustee. My head is swimming now more than when we started this whole thing
Thanks for listening,
House of cards
We have been planning our BK for several months. The main reason for our troubles is 2 fold - business income decreasing over 4th Q last year is part of it. The main reason however is my wifes medical problems that have caused us serious income loss and extra medical expenses since 2003. We have talked about the possibility that she won't be able to work much longer because she sufferes from chronic pain along with other less debilitating issues. We have discussed the inevitable circumstance that she may have to go on permament disability.
My wife had to take a medical leave in August and has not worked since then. She has short term and long term disability insurance at work. We also have a relative that works for a disability attorney - so his services to push her through to receive benefits are going to be free.
Our attorney was made aware of her medical history during our initial consultation. We kinda had the choice of a 7 or 13 because even though we were over the median our DMI is neg $1000.
We finally got filed November 24. On December 1st she had a follow-up appointment with the specialist working on her current issue (unrelated to the chronic pain thing). The doctor has one more procedure to put her through that requires a 6 week recovery. If she does not return to work by January 15th she will lose her job (6 month absence is automatic termination). She will not be ready to return by this date - so now we have to make some desicions.
We have decided that now is the time to pursue her permanent disability.
My wife is covered for 60 % of her normal fulltime pay in the short term. She is also covered for 60 % of her normal pay in the long term - up to 5 years. I don't know the timeframe for SS Disability payments or when she will be medically insured as such.
Our chapter 13 plan is filed - but no 341 yet. We are lien stripping our 2nd so we want to do a 13 to make that happen. Doing a 7 will likely cause us problems with our business - another reason to make sure we are in a 13.
The disability insurance company is finally paying benifits - but they ended November 30th until they receive more documentation from the doctors. The insurance company is really a PITA to deal with - both of my wife's doctors have expressed concerns with the rediculous amount of paperwork they are requesting. The current state of the disability insurance claim we are in the middle of is not at all like the last time she needed to miss work. I suspect the insurance company is in a weak position now with the economy and wants to make it extremely difficult to file a claim - oh well.
I emailed the attorney about her missing work well before we filed - he asked if we could afford our payment and the house 1st mortgage. At that time i didn't know what the payment would be but suspected it would be managable with the understaning that the wife was going back to work.
Now things have changed - our future income is now more uncertain than it was the day we filed. I have not yet told the attorney about this new issue but plan to on Monday because I think he needs to know.
Now the questions:
1. Do i need to let the attorney know about this? I think we can afford to do the plan as it stands providing my wifes disability income is stable at 60% of past history.
2. What about the increased expense we now have due to COBRA at $350ish per month? That was not included in the plan. The insurance company stopped her coverage after 84 days out from work and we absolutely must continue to have health coverage for her untill SS benefits kick in.
3. The attorney wants us to pay the 2nd mortgage until the strip is done - NOT paying it would kinda wash with the COBRA payment. Would you ask him if you could stop paying the 2nd now if you were in my shoes?
The timing of this whole thing sucks - because our 341 is January 5th and she will not have technically lost her job till the January 15th.
4. If we just ride this through - what do we say to the Trustee when she asks "Has anything changed since you filed?"
We are kinda taking it a day at a time so far - we HAVE made our first payment to the trustee. My head is swimming now more than when we started this whole thing
Thanks for listening,
House of cards
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