Florida Questions

[ShooFly]

Hi everyone... I have found some very valuable information here... thanks so much to all the regulars here Here's a few more questions I haven't found answered yet if you have a minute...

In Florida.... are the trustee payments garnished from your paycheck? How often do they look at your income, is it yearly? Also, if I can do small things on the side like sell clothes on ebay, can I keep that money to myself?

After doing my Schedule J, I have $668 left in disposable income but my mortage arrearage would be about $1229 for 60 months. Can the arrearage be negotiated down by my lawyer since it's mostly interest anyway? Or can my 13 be denied because I don't have enough for the arrearage?

Can I strip down my HELOC with an "owner occupied triplex"?

I guess those are some of the main questions I had for myself as I was reading other threads. Thanks in advance if you have time to answer.

[Lissy]

No, trustee payments are not garnished from your paycheck in Florida. This may depend on exactly where you are, but my TT does allow automatic deductions from your bank account. They are not mandatory though. If you don't do that, you have to send in a money order or cashier's check.

Yes, they look at your income yearly. You are required to submit copies of your tax returns every year. They will also take any tax refund you receive.

On the ebay thing, I would check with your lawyer. I believe if you are just selling things you've already paid for and no longer need and you are not making a large amount of money doing it, you'll be fine. But if you are doing it as a business, it may have to be reported as income. Again, check with your atty on that.

I can't answer your questions regarding your home because I don't own one, but my understanding is that mortgage arrears are priority debt and must be paid in full during the plan. So if your DMI is too low to cover your arrears, you can't fund the plan and it will not be approved. If this is the case, you may have to give up the house. But again, I'm no expert on this so talk to your atty.

[ShooFly]

Thanks Lissy. Yes, the ebay thing would be selling clothes I currently own, not a business. I was thinking it might help me through the initial transition by having "a little" extra money.

Bad news on the arrearage. I reallllly don't want to give up my house! Does anybody else know about owner occupied triplexes? Could I strip down my HELOC with one? I will talk to my lawyer about it, yes, but since it's the weekend I wondered if anyone here had insight.