One more question...

[ejny65]

[Dollar Bill]

I'm not sure, but if it did I would send it back!!!!!

Just kidding, but hey if push came to shove I would have to find that check under my porch rug after my 341. The postman left it there!

[ejny65]

anyone? Please?
has anyone had an unexpected income right before file?

[danaf]

At 20k below the median, why do you think 2k would push you over? It won't.

However, I'd look into exempting it. Did you tell or ask your attorney?

[PaKettle]

I think he is saying that although he is below the median, it might still screw up his petition as far as having money left over at the end of each month per his expenses.... No?

The $2050 that he got would be divided into SIX for the past months income, right, so that would be an extra $340/month that he would have to justify expenses for, no?

Anyone know the exemptions for New York state? (I'm assuming that the NY in ejny means NY state).

[danaf]

you can exempt $2500 in cash in ny. but why not wait until after filing to cash the check? then it would not be part of the bk estate.

[PaKettle]

you can exempt $2500 in cash in ny. but why not wait until after filing to cash the check? then it would not be part of the bk estate.

Is that true? I thought you had to report it as income because you received the check! Otherwise, many people could just not cash their checks and fudge on their incomes!

However, if the check is not cashed there is no proof of it having been received...

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Pa, I see your point, but this is actually one of the few times I would say... sit on the check and cash it after the 341. I don't see it as an ethical quandary in this particular case, just a strategic decision: they've been waiting to be paid for some ten months already. If the client had paid on time there would be no issue at all.

To me, ethically, it's the same deal as going to money orders to avoid checks, or waiting to file *after* receiving and spending my tax refund on essentials and atty fees.

So I guess the thing to do next, before deciding whether to cash it or sit on it for a while, is to look at the numbers both ways, with and without, schedules AND means test, and see what impact there will be. If it's going to be a big hit and change something major (like put you over the median income for your area, or give you more than $100 a month in disposable income that you have no other expenses to add in to bring it back down) THEN you may have an ethical quandary. If I leave it off: is it strategy, or am I really hiding something I ought not?

But in the end, *if you can*, work this pmt into your filing in such a way that your numbers are still acceptable, cash the check, keep your emergency cash intact, use part of this to pay the atty, and exempt the remainder. You get the payment in the bank to use as you like, the long-forgotten emergency fund goes back in the mason jar under the fencepost in the north forty, the atty gets paid, the bk gets filed, and it's all aboveboard for the trustee so no midnight sweats over having left something out. That would be my own plan, anyway.

Good luck to you!!!

[phoenyx]

I just wanted to add that from a technical standpoint, you have what is considered constructive receipt of the funds once you receive a check. Whether you hang onto it or cash it now is immaterial to when you technically received the funds.

I've got to recommend looking into what effects it would have, and properly exempting the funds so you don't risk your entire case over an amount this small -- even though it seems so large right now.