Filing Delayed Due to Personal Injury Suit and Overtime

[nmocean]

I tried to file today and a personal injury lawsuit has everything on hold. I am afraid of the same thing not having any money left over. They are including my overtime into it which might not be on every check. Over the last few years I have worked every amount possible and that got to me that I could trying to starve this BK off. My wife has got a new job in the last two months and it has overtime on her checks and they are including that too. My fear is what if I get no overtime and I can't pay my bills then what? The overtime at my work has been highly unusual the past two years two turbine self destructed, plant hit by lightning, a cold ass winter and everything froze etc. This won't go on forever and I am getting beat down by working like this

[dmc-2008]

I think maybe wait six more months to file to get a more accurate picture of income?

[LadyInTheRed]

mocean, I moved your post to a new thread as your prefiling problems are a different topic than somebody already in Chap 13 and having problems.

[LadyInTheRed]

Remember that schedule I is forward looking. If you can't wait to file until your income during the 6 month look back has dropped, you could base your plan payment on what you expect your income to be without working overtime, assuming you and your wife will not continue to work overtime.

Are you still paying unsecured creditors? If so, stop paying and stop working overtime so your income will drop to a more realistic level.

But, it sounds like a big problem is that the value of your personal injury suit will require your plan payments to be too high. If you can't exempt your claim, then you are probably better off waiting until it is resolved and you get paid so you can spend whatever you receive before filing. Another option is to accept that any settlement or award that you can't exempt will have to be paid to the trustee. Or, if you receive enough, perhaps you can settle with your creditors and avoid BK all together.

Justbroke's Chapter 13 Rant is a good overview of what can go wrong with a Chap 13. http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.ph...hapter-13-Rant
One point he makes is that a good attorney is essential. I think that is especially true when your past income is higher than your future income will be. Have you discussed your options with your attorney and come up with a plan?

[nmocean]

I kept telling my lawyer last night that since I transferred I have maybe two straight pay checks that is it. The rest have had one or two overtime days on avg. on them. He came in the room and with a few checks and said pick the one that is most realistic. I picked the lowest one. When I mentioned the personal injury lawsuit he instantly stopped and said wee cant go any farther and sent an email to the other lawyer and told me to text him or call and give permission to discuss my case. He said that he will probably drop the case because the trustee will be in charge now. This personal injury has been going on for 4 years plus and still not settled.

[LadyInTheRed]

Sounds like your attorney is on top of things. When it is time to sign your petition, if the plan payment seems too high, be sure to carefully review the budget and discuss any missing or unrealistic expenses or income.

[spidge]

nmocean, I hope you are all healed up now. No fun being being injured. You may have had a break from work but it sure cuts into the ability to pay the bills.

I had issues with overtime too at the point I originally decided to file but we tried a new system at work that caused my OT to shoot through the roof(20 hours a week of OT). It still was not enough to avoid BK though, and that amount of OT surely would not continue. So as soon as I could I gave up as much OT as I could and reduced my income substantially.This way I had the pay stubs and a tax return to support the income upon filling.

Good luck and keep us posted.