Seeking advise after contacting lawyer

[sunshineMN]

Hi all!
This is a little long...but have to give a little history.

So my DH has been in and out of work since we filed our CH13 almost a year ago. He finally settled at a very good company at the end of October. The kicker is that he is making substantially MORE than when we filed our BK. (Side note here: he gets paid a base pay that's pretty close to what he was making when he filed. But, on top of that he gets paid a "prevailing wage" as part of the contract his company sign with the client they are currently doing work for....which will last about 3 years. This prevailing wage is what is making his income dramatically higher.)

So, when he got the job, I contacted our lawyer to advise the specifics (yes I gave exact $$ figures.) of the job change and to ask if we needed to do anything....like contact the TT, change our plan, or anything.

Got a call back from the paralegal at the atty office, and she said we don't have to do anything at all. I asked, well, what if the TT asks for our Tax Returns and sees the dramatic increase in income?? She said, "if that happens, we'll deal with it at that time".

Now, the other thing to let you know is that there is NOTHING spelled out in our confirmation. All it says is that our plan is approved. There is nothing about turning in tax returns to our TT every year. But I know that they can ask for them at any time. (I spoke to someone on here a while back from my city that had the same TT, and they said that the TT didn't ask for anything for the 1st year, but asked for returns in year 2. We're in a 3 year plan with almost 1 down...so if they don't ask until after tax time next year, we'll only have 1 year left.)

So.....I ask my fellow CH13 peeps......should I just roll with what the lawyer office said? Should I not worry about anything until it happens? DH and I would like to spend some money on some house repairs that we've put off for a long time, but I'm scared to spend anything for fear that the TT will find out about the income change and then we'll have a BIG mess on our hands. (Maybe I'm just paranoid!!!)

I just don't want to screw anything up. Any feedback or comments would be SOOO appreciated.

[woeisme]

You have fulfilled your obligation, you notified your lawyer and gave exact #'s. I'm hoping this was in writing, but either way, your obligation for notification is complete. I would start saving as much of the "extra" $ as you can, just in case the trustee comes back to you with an increase you have a nice cushion built up, and it never hurts to be saving $, right? And then just let it ride.... some trustees are overwhelmed with cases, as long as you make your payments, they are content to let it go, others might micromanage, but until they demand tax returns and additional paperwork, go with what your lawyer tells you. best of luck and congrats on the good job for hub!

[lrprn]

I would call back and ask to speak to your lawyer about this. By law in all 50 states, paralegals are not allowed to give legal advice - that sounds like what may have happened here.

You need to hear directly from your lawyer that's it's ok to "do nothing" and if you can get that in writing, great. Once your lawyer says this is the path to follow, then follow that actual legal advice.

[bpokey]

Hi Sunshine -

I had almost the exact same situation happen to me. I got a SIGNIFICANT raise heading into year three of a five year plan with a 35% payback. I called my lawyer and he said, "Congratulations, save some money". Just to be safe though, I followed up with an e-mail giving specifics along with an address change to literally 1000 miles away and he sent back an e-mail saying, "Congratulations again, I'll file the change of address forms".

I never had tax returns asked for (that I know of) and at one point I came close to doubling the income I filed under. I was getting pretty scared and thinking about contacting the trustee directly, but my thoughts on the matter are that I pay him for his advice and it'd be kind of silly to pay him and not listen to him. I've got that e-mail saved though..... just in case.

[sunshineMN]

lrprn - Thanks for the suggestion to talk directly to the lawyer. I'm going to call tomorrow and ask for the lawyer to call me back (they never take incoming calls...will only call you back after you leave a message). If I don't get a call back, then I'll probably make an appt to meet with him in person. I just want to cover our bases on this - I don't want to run into any problems.

bpokey - Thanks for sharing your experience with a similar situation. My fingers are crossed that we get the same kind of response from our lawyer and can breathe easy through the next two years.

[sunshineMN]

Well, thought I would post an update.

I was told by my lawyer that I don't need to do anything. He told me that it is very rare that the Trustee will review cases in detail to go back and have plans reviewed an potentially revised because of increased income. When I asked if we should be saving the excess income just in case the trustee finds out and asks for a back payment.....my lawyer said, "If the trustee finds out about the income, we only go forward - not backward. You might have to revise your plan from the time the trustee questions the extra income going forward, but you won't have to make any back payments."

My lawyer gave me the green light to spend the extra income on some large expenses that we were putting off (removing a large tree to the tune of $2000 and truck repairs that will be around $500). I'm still going to make sure that we are only spending money on things that we absolutely need (NO WANTS!!) and only after doing research for good deals!

I thought of going directly to the trustee with the changes, but like bpokey said earlier, we paid our lawyer good money to give us legal advise. So, if my lawyer said I don't need to do anything, then that's what we do.

I still can't help but tell you that I feel somewhat guilty that we are now not struggling at all....especially when I read so many posts on here of people that are really struggling. I guess I will just count my blessings!!

I do wish there were more users from Minnesota so I could compare experiences.

[brighteyes]

I still can't help but tell you that I feel somewhat guilty that we are now not struggling at all....especially when I read so many posts on here of people that are really struggling. I guess I will just count my blessings!!

I think we all filed because we were struggling and we needed help. The BK is to make it so that we aren't struggling. So all in all, it's working

[systemslt]

Well, thought I would post an update.

I was told by my lawyer that I don't need to do anything. He told me that it is very rare that the Trustee will review cases in detail to go back and have plans reviewed an potentially revised because of increased income. When I asked if we should be saving the excess income just in case the trustee finds out and asks for a back payment.....my lawyer said, "If the trustee finds out about the income, we only go forward - not backward. You might have to revise your plan from the time the trustee questions the extra income going forward, but you won't have to make any back payments."

My lawyer gave me the green light to spend the extra income on some large expenses that we were putting off (removing a large tree to the tune of $2000 and truck repairs that will be around $500). I'm still going to make sure that we are only spending money on things that we absolutely need (NO WANTS!!) and only after doing research for good deals!

I thought of going directly to the trustee with the changes, but like bpokey said earlier, we paid our lawyer good money to give us legal advise. So, if my lawyer said I don't need to do anything, then that's what we do.

I still can't help but tell you that I feel somewhat guilty that we are now not struggling at all....especially when I read so many posts on here of people that are really struggling. I guess I will just count my blessings!!

I do wish there were more users from Minnesota so I could compare experiences.

this post was from the beginning of my 13

law firm the big R.H.

would not hire them to walk my dog.

if i did not do the work my self i would have been screwed .

for all the huge mistakes and errors on the documents that i found only to get them back with most of the mistakes still there. the four day wait only to get a vague answer to a question. a means test that took me a hour or two to complete "only needed to fill out the first part". i tweaked the figures I & J forums myself and will cut my monthly payment by $80. "i thought this is what the lawyer is payed to do". its costing me $2600 for their services.

If it all gos well it will be worth every penny. after 4-5 years of financial hell do not have the mindset to tackle filing a chap.13 on my own.

this site and it members have helped me in many ways.

[sunshineMN]

systemslt,
Not sure what part of MN you are in, so not sure if I know what law firm you used, or what Trustee handled your case.
The law firm we decided on only does bankruptcies, nothing else. And, we know a couple other people that have used them with no issues.
As for our Trustee - we've never met her or talked to her. She was not even at our 341 - there was just a rep from her office.

[systemslt]

systemslt,
Not sure what part of MN you are in, so not sure if I know what law firm you used, or what Trustee handled your case.
The law firm we decided on only does bankruptcies, nothing else. And, we know a couple other people that have used them with no issues.
As for our Trustee - we've never met her or talked to her. She was not even at our 341 - there was just a rep from her office.

if that's all they do and do it well. its not the BK mill i went to.