Hi,
I've been in my ch13 plan now for about 13 months. During that time, we've had alot of things happen (spouse lost job, got a new one making a base salary of $1K less/mo). Anyway, both of our jobs are very unpredictable with what we make each month. I'm part-time (on call 6 days a week though) and one month I work a minimal amount and the next I may work about 50 hours a week. Nothing is steady that I can plan on so I just budget for the lowest amount. Anyway, my husband's new job now has a base salary and he gets a commission if his sales exceed the base amount. He's been at this job now for over 4 months and it looks like next month that he may see a commission check
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My question is this: When/how do I calculate the increase of 10 percent of our income to report to our trustee? Do I wait until we have gone over that amount for a yearly total or do I try to track it for each month and report it to our lawyer? Many poor months are balanced out by good months financially speaking but I'm just trying to figure the best way out to handle this situation right and to make sure I don't do something to cause my case to be dismissed. Currently, I'm on track to make about $9,000 more this year than last year but my husband so far is looking to make about $10,000 less this year than last year so essentially it is a wash. However, if he starts getting good commission checks and I work alot (I may have three months of full-time work the end of the year) then that could drastically change. But those are "ifs" so I can't count on them until they happen.
Any thoughts from others out there like us with varying income amounts? I've mentioned something like this to our lawyer before and he just states "any increase of 10 percent needs to be reported" with a look in his eye that if we just hang low under the radar and make our plan payments we'll be fine. BTW: we aren't required to send in our tax returns each year but I know the trustee can ask for them at any time so I know we need to be honest and open WRT reporting an income increase.
I've been in my ch13 plan now for about 13 months. During that time, we've had alot of things happen (spouse lost job, got a new one making a base salary of $1K less/mo). Anyway, both of our jobs are very unpredictable with what we make each month. I'm part-time (on call 6 days a week though) and one month I work a minimal amount and the next I may work about 50 hours a week. Nothing is steady that I can plan on so I just budget for the lowest amount. Anyway, my husband's new job now has a base salary and he gets a commission if his sales exceed the base amount. He's been at this job now for over 4 months and it looks like next month that he may see a commission check
.My question is this: When/how do I calculate the increase of 10 percent of our income to report to our trustee? Do I wait until we have gone over that amount for a yearly total or do I try to track it for each month and report it to our lawyer? Many poor months are balanced out by good months financially speaking but I'm just trying to figure the best way out to handle this situation right and to make sure I don't do something to cause my case to be dismissed. Currently, I'm on track to make about $9,000 more this year than last year but my husband so far is looking to make about $10,000 less this year than last year so essentially it is a wash. However, if he starts getting good commission checks and I work alot (I may have three months of full-time work the end of the year) then that could drastically change. But those are "ifs" so I can't count on them until they happen.
Any thoughts from others out there like us with varying income amounts? I've mentioned something like this to our lawyer before and he just states "any increase of 10 percent needs to be reported" with a look in his eye that if we just hang low under the radar and make our plan payments we'll be fine. BTW: we aren't required to send in our tax returns each year but I know the trustee can ask for them at any time so I know we need to be honest and open WRT reporting an income increase.
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