My attorney is an idiot!

[Confused78]

I think that must be a district or something. I am a few hours from Philly and have never been to a court house there. That was why I left that on there. I guess maybe I should still take it off. Thanks

Edited to add: I guess it won't let me go back and edit, the edit button is gone. Oh well, I think I am safe that it pretty far from here not to mention Philly is huge.

[GreenInkOnPaper]

The first sentance in your post states that you had your 341 on jan. 5th, so I can see that you would not have to attend a second meeting.

[Confused78]

I had on scheduled on the 5th but I never actually spoke to the trustee. It was rescheduled so that we could rework the numbers before we spoke to her. She said that if she spoke to me before the numbers were fixed that my case would get pushed into a 13 since it was showing a positive income. So, I didn't actuallu have it. I went and showed up but didn't go through the motions.

[shabam]

A little back story, we went in for my 341 in 1/5 and was told by the trustee that my case was going to get thrown out since I was showing disposable income.

Is this taken into consideration because you where over the ch 7 median income for your state?

Or is it applied to everyone, regardless of their income?

[Confused78]

We passed the means test but was showing extra income after all bills. I guess if there is extra income then they throw you into chapter 13 since you have money left over that can be applied to the bills.

[debtmonster]

We only had groceries at 250.00/month for a family of 5. It wasn't hard to get rid of the disp. income.

There is no way to buy "healthy" food for 5 people for $250/mo. We can easily spend $125/wk. for 2 people. Produce is not cheap. Apples, oranges, banana's, lettuce, tomatoes, beans and other goods are all very expensive. For 5 people you should EASILY be spending $500-700/mo. on groceries. And for the $125/wk. we spend, we buy no soda whatsoever. That's just us drinking water only.

[GreenInkOnPaper]

I had on scheduled on the 5th but I never actually spoke to the trustee. It was rescheduled so that we could rework the numbers before we spoke to her. She said that if she spoke to me before the numbers were fixed that my case would get pushed into a 13 since it was showing a positive income. So, I didn't actuallu have it. I went and showed up but didn't go through the motions.

Oh, I see.....

[SevenFilerCA]

There is no way to buy "healthy" food for 5 people for $250/mo. We can easily spend $125/wk. for 2 people. Produce is not cheap. Apples, oranges, banana's, lettuce, tomatoes, beans and other goods are all very expensive. For 5 people you should EASILY be spending $500-700/mo. on groceries. And for the $125/wk. we spend, we buy no soda whatsoever. That's just us drinking water only.

Good grief! I spend $100/month for one person and eat no processed food whatsoever, only whole foods, including fresh produce. I can't imagine spending $125 on drinking water - I have a Brita pitcher! $8 every 2 months for the filter - so much more economical (and better for the environment). $250 for 5 definitely sounds tough, but I think it can definitely be done for less than $75/week per person.

As far as your disposable income, check your state guidelines for expenses, and bump your expenses up to those.

[justbroke]

Good grief! I spend $100/month for one person and eat no processed food whatsoever, only whole foods, including fresh produce. I can't imagine spending $125 on drinking water - I have a Brita pitcher! $8 every 2 months for the filter - so much more economical (and better for the environment). $250 for 5 definitely sounds tough, but I think it can definitely be done for less than $75/week per person.

As far as your disposable income, check your state guidelines for expenses, and bump your expenses up to those.

If it matters, the IRS allowance for a family of 5 is $1,370 (for a family of 4) plus $262 (for the fith person), or $1,632 for a family of 5. This allowance include clothing, and other miscellaneous items like personal care products and entertainment.

To make this fit the category of expense we are talking about, food, the IRS designates $752/month for a family of four for food. For an additional person, it doesn't split $190 for food and other items, so it's about 54.9% of the $190, so I'm thinking $100/month for the fifth person.

That means that the IRS believes the average family spends $852/month to feed a family of 5.

I don't know how people come up with such low numbers in their Bankruptcy.

In a Chapter 7 do one of three things. Use your actual costs or use the IRS allowance (whichever is more). Unless you don't want to explain being over the limits, then use the IRS allowance or your actual costs, whichever is less. Either way, don't skimp on this very important expense category!!!

That's $175/month in food per person, and about $43.00 per person per week.

(As a side note, the IRS shows a single-person, alone, family of one, spending $275/month on food.)

[SevenFilerCA]

I don't know how people come up with such low numbers in their Bankruptcy.

In my case, it's just the amount I actually have that I can spend. If I get discharged and come off disability, I'll definitely spend more!

[justbroke]

In my case, it's just the amount I actually have that I can spend. If I get discharged and come off disability, I'll definitely spend more!

Sorry to hear that. I should have wrote that it's also a function of your income. I have a family of four and spend about $200/week on food average. That's $860/month (4.3 weeks in a month). The allowance is $752.

I have been trying to find ways to save on the food myself. I always buy the 2 for 1 specials and try to cook prepared meals, over ordering pizza. Somehow, I can't seem to get under $200/week on food. I tend to buy weekly because I don't like filling up the shopping cart too much.

[debtmonster]

That's $175/month in food per person, and about $43.00 per person per week.

There's no possible way I could eat that cheap. I recently started eating whole foods and I had a heart attack when we had a 3/4 shopping cart full of food and the bill at Publix was $200 bucks!

And whole food has a short shelf life. We have to eat it quick and buy more. As of right now, we have $100 in our checking and that money is going F-A-S-T. I don't get paid again until the 16th.

I don't care what guidelines they have or allow. I spend what I spend. Things cost what they do. My cars are $1050/mo. for both payments, not including insurance. When I bought my cars, I had no intentions on filing Ch. 7 the day I bought them.

They can stick those guide lines up their a$$. If they deny me my Ch. 7 because of some technicality, then so be it. I will simply move out of the country. No matter what, they are not going to get blood from a turnip.

[justbroke]

I don't care what guidelines they have or allow. I spend what I spend. Things cost what they do. My cars are $1050/mo. for both payments, not including insurance. When I bought my cars, I had no intentions on filing Ch. 7 the day I bought them.

In a Chapter 13, you'd have to care.

Otherwise, you would state a medical reason why you should spend more. I would say that the Trustee would be okay in medical cases, but will need some real proof.

Of course, you don't have to file. In order to get the protections afforded by Title 11 (Bankruptcy Code), you must play by the rules. Nothing would stop you from allocating more of say, your vehicle ownership allowance, towards food, and vice versa.

However, your overall values wouldn't work in a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13.

[debtmonster]

In a Chapter 13, you'd have to care.

Otherwise, you would state a medical reason why you should spend more. I would say that the Trustee would be okay in medical cases, but will need some real proof.

Of course, you don't have to file. In order to get the protections afforded by Title 11 (Bankruptcy Code), you must play by the rules. Nothing would stop you from allocating more of say, your vehicle ownership allowance, towards food, and vice versa.

However, your overall values wouldn't work in a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13.

The money I made 6 months has absolutely nothing to do with what I will be making. My income is dropping and dropping more and more. My last 6 months I am over the means test, but the next 6 months I will be $1000/mo. under.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Debtmonster it is so good to see you again. Yes, you are a turnip. LOL. We are very pleased with the Angelfoodministries.com food. Some is so, so, but most of high quality and not over spiced for those with medical problems. We are two and eat on the $100 a month augmenting with bread, milk and some veggies. No big problem. I would never purchase water just to drink. Our well water is poison and only good for bathing and washing dishes. We truck into town and stock up with city water. I don’t have a false scare of chlorine as I have lived my age and never had a chlorine problem. I also eat fish out of the St. Johns. Cook anything right, it won’t kill you. The last time I had food poisoning was a catfish dinner at Cracker-barrel. It was a tough bought for both Mrs. and I. Food is relatively cheap and lay back some storable. It is money in the bank. ‘Hub