Additional income, tax refunds, and prizes (scholarships) - additional expenses?

[nonenone]

We live in WA state. When the economy tanked, our incomes reduced by 50% and we filed to ch13 one year ago since we couldn't pay off our CC debt, which was a huge relief. But now that the economy is back, our financial picture is looking up. I expect our income to go back or better than it was two years ago (i.e., a 50% increase should we choose to take it), and also our tax refund this year will high, and I expect to win some cash awards.

My question is, what'll happen with all this extra money? Is there a way I can apply a large ($14-16K) tax refund (which I presume is treated the same as income), a raise, or a cash award, to:

1. Housing maintenance (we badly need to fix a lot of areas of our home which we're not able to living on a tight budget)?
2. Medical expenses for my mother in law who needs surgery (we support her)?
3. College for my son who will start next year (2010)? In general saving for college for kids?
4. 401(k), IRA? -- I've read in some forum posts you can divert extra income or a tax refund to retirement accounts and the trustee has to deal with it?
5. Anything else?

(I maximise my withholding but our refund is still high due to business loss.)

When we filed our ch13, we were asked to distribute our then tax refund over the 60 month period. The order confirming our case doesn't say anything about reporting additional income and taxes (though some literature on their web site does) except saying that all disposable income should be paid to the ch13 parties.

I have read many posts in the forum but I'm getting a conflicted message. Do we need to inform our trustee of all these changes, if our income-expenses remains the same? What are reasonable new expenses we can incur (any or all of items 1-5 above?) and not get asked to pay it back later?

Thanks a lot!

[SMinGA]

Contact your attorney ASAP - he/she should know how your plan is set up regarding these details. REgarding using a tax refund for needing home repairs and such, if you were told to submit your refunds to the plan, your attorney may be able to file a request to use some of it for those things. (You may need to submit documentation of the anticipated expenses.)

[nonenone]

I did talk to my attorney and it wasn't very satisfactory, so I'm sort of asking for a second opinion. Basically my attorney said that if I keep a careful record of income and expenses, and my expenses could be justified, I should be okay (this included taking care of my mother in law but I didn't get to ask him about the 401(k)/IRA -- this I just found out about reading this forum). He said the trustee will be hard pressed to make us pay back legitimate expenses. He said there's a small risk and that in a worst case scenario the trustee can always ask for the money to be repaid back.

Basically my impression from this conversation was "do nothing" and wait till they bring it up. Which as I said, wasn't satisfactory.

[nonenone]

Also, I've not been told to submit refunds to the plan and I'm pretty sure there's no a priori expectation that I have to (I have every single piece of paper sent to me and they also ask for other things but not this). The most relevant thing I could find on a pamphlet (not on the court order) was that I should report income that is in excess of my budget to the trustee so the trustee can decide what to do (including tax refunds, mortgage adjustments, etc.). So as you can see, "excess of your budget" is open to interpretation since if I fix my house, the budget will vary.

I can document all my expenses (home maintenance, payment for mother's surgery, etc.).

--
I guess if I follow my attorney's general sense, to not stir the boat, then how can it come back to haunt me? What expenses are likely to be allowed and what is not is very clear. Obviously flatscreen TVs are not but college for kid? Medical expenses for mom? 401(k)?

I will have to go back to my attorney. I don't my have tax refund yet (we've not filed yet since we have a corporation return to go with it and we have an extension).