We now make "too much" for BK? WTH!???

[julsmom]

I swear, it never ends with me...so we are now being sued by CU for the credit cards & credit line we defaulted on, who also hold title to DH's car so we were worried they would come to try to pick that up...got everything together & thought we were going to be done with this yesterday....BUT...NO! We were honest & told them about DH being offered a new job, which I was certainly not going to hide it BUT I thought we would file & then we would probably have to adjust the payment once he starts getting checks in from the new job, it will be considerable more money (about double what he makes now, so it is a wonderful opportunity for him) but when the attorney put everything in with the avg for DH's new income it was literally going to throw everything for a loop; we would end up paying back 100% in 4 years, even the stupid lien that we stripped...ughhh! But here is my problem, and they don't even know what to do with us so I am waiting for a call back from the main atty in the firm; because now that we are months behind on the cards, we are still over 60K underwater on this house, so i don't see how we could NOT file this. I am so stressed out and really don't want to see his new job as being a bad thing, ya know? So...wiht the new job though, he will be paid X amount per hour & yes it is double what he makes now but he will be a consultant so he has to send an invoice, he has to then pay all his own taxes, he gets no benefits basically, he would have to pay his own retirement, insurance; holidays; vaca days, etc...like for example, he will be off the 4th of July week, for a previous engagement he has planned; he will not be paid that week. It makes up in the long run because he makes so much more, but I don't know how in the world they are going to be able to accurately estimate that for our BK. Because he will be self employed. The insurance is fine, we just got that back through my work, which doubled the premium, so we listed that; he can put in an IRA for retirement so he was going to set up for that, & set up an acct to put away to pay the quarterly taxes. But I just can't imagine the BK payt being that high now. It was going from like being $250 a month for 60 months before to now with the new job $2500 a month for 48 months!
I hope I'm explaining that clearly enough so you can follow that. Any thoughts?

[SMinGA]

First, you cannot make 'too much' for bankruptcy. You might end up in a 100% payback on unsecured, but interest & penalties STOP when you file.

You will need to account for the new expenses in your budget. Especially the self employment tax. The IRS website probably has something on making quarterly estimated payments? He may also be able to contribute to an IRA, though I honestly don't know if monthly IRA contributions can be included in a ch. 13 budget. If not, you could increase your own 401k/IRA payroll deduction for now. Time off is not really an expense, but I suppose you would account for that in his average income? Such as if he expects to work 40 hours a week, 48 weeks total a year then 40 x 49 / 12 would give you his average monthly income.

In the end, its your job to make sure your attorney hears your concerns and addresses them. Don't sign off any anything til you're sure all of your expenses are accounted for.

[JackBondLove]

I have a hunch that this consultant job will be temporary. Be ready to file for a change (either a less burdensome 13 or a conversion to a 7) when it happens.

NOBODY these days works as a consultant for any long time.