Household

[NeedNewStart]

I'm engaged and my fiance is in school. We live together and I pay all the bills. He gets some student loans but only enough to cover his tuition. We're both on the lease for the apartment but other than that, we have no joint accounts or joint debts.

I will be filing BK eventually but I'm not sure when. I'm thinking it's best if we don't get married until its done. However my income is above the median for one person and I need to find more expenses but I personally don't have any and DO NOT want to take on any more debts. He has lots of things that need to be paid and I do/can pay them.

I'm just wondering about our household. Would this be a two person household or a one person household? Can I pay for his health insurance, cc minimums, student loan interest and car maintenance as part of my expenses? Would it be better to get married first?

When he gets done with school he'll have a great job but over $150000 in student loan debt! We'll be paying it off forever


My only reason for me filing is to get rid of the threat of a possible deficiency judgement in the future because my house will be going into foreclosure. I personally have no other debt. The statue of limitations is 6 years.... and in 6 years we'll have things rolling. Right now we're trying not to dig a deeper hole. He will be in school for another year.

I can't afford to keep the house, but by not paying it I actually have some extra money left over each month. I want to use this to keep him from going into more and more student debt.

[justbroke]

I'm just wondering about our household. Would this be a two person household or a one person household?

It's a two person household as you live under the same roof and share expenses in one manner or another. Especially since you live as a couple. However, see my response below to the next question...

Can I pay for his health insurance, cc minimums, student loan interest and car maintenance as part of my expenses?

Yes, but you are not legally obligated to do so. Most Bankruptcy courts agree that creditors should not be punished because of a lifestyle choice to provide living expenses for a live-in significant other or even a fiance. This does vary by District, but the overwhelming consensus is that you have no legal responsibility to a fiance or even a live-in significant other. Harsh, but a reality from a hyper-technical bankruptcy standpoint.

[QUOTE=NeedNewStart;263278]Would it be better to get married first? /QUOTE]See above. I think your not being married could affect your ability claim your fiance's living expenses (medical, etc). I would go even further to say, don't get married just do deal with this. Your fiance would still count as a household member, so you'd have a 2-person household. My concern is that you can't claim "expenses" paid on behalf of your fiance. See my answer above as to why.

My only reason for me filing is to get rid of the threat of a possible deficiency judgement in the future because my house will be going into foreclosure. I personally have no other debt. The statue of limitations is 6 years.... and in 6 years we'll have things rolling. Right now we're trying not to dig a deeper hole. He will be in school for another year.

I didn't catch what State you live in. I don't see the need to use Bankruptcy on a foreclosure deficit... Your State may not even allow deficiencies.

[NeedNewStart]

I live in Oregon but my house is in Nevada. Nevada does allow for deficiency judgments and they can wait up to 6 years to come after me because my second mortgage is unsecured at this point. I'm looking at a minimum of $100k judgment, that's if the first doesn't come after me and the second doesn't add interest and fees to the judgement.

You see.... I know that they might never actually sue me but I can't live with the waiting for 6 YEARS to see if they do. We want move on and not be looking over our shoulders for years.

Once my fiance does finish school he will make decent money and we want to buy a house and have a savings account and a family and all that stuff. I don't want to get things going and then get hit with a judgment and loose everything because we won't even come close to qualifying for BK when we are both working. However, it's not like we're going to be loaded or anything, we'll just be average and we'll still have all of his student loans to pay off. That in itself will be between $150k and $200k.

So from what you said it looks like maybe I can't pay for his expenses but I would be able to claim that we are a two person household even though we are not married yet? If that is true then I am easily under the median income for two people.

[NeedNewStart]

Just a side note... we want to get married as soon as possible. It's actually really difficult because I've been delaying it just because of the situation with my house.

[justbroke]

So from what you said it looks like maybe I can't pay for his expenses but I would be able to claim that we are a two person household even though we are not married yet? If that is true then I am easily under the median income for two people.

Yes, you are a two person household, when it comes to the means test. Hopefully he has absolutely no income at all, because you'd have to add that income with yours if the fiance is contributing to the household.

In your particular case, with Nevada property, it may be in your best interest to file Chapter 7 as an individual. I would make sure to consult with a lawyer as to what is the best way to go, as for marriage and the home in Nevada. Nevada is a community property State, but Oregon is not. You may be able to get married first and file by yourself. A professional could hep determine the best overall course of action.

I don't particularly see anything wrong with filing before or after getting married. I would consider the Nevada property as a pre-marital asset. Of course your credit will be toast for at least 2 years after discharge, but your fiance (future spouse) shouldn't be affected.

That's my read.

I wish you two the best! Please keep us informed on how you're progressing. I actually had to accelerate the marriage because I was in a Chapter 13, filed as a single debtor, and they weren't going to allow me to claim my non-biological children and fiance. But, alas, Chapter 13s are different.

[NeedNewStart]

My fiance has negative income... so the fact that he will be included in my household will be really helpful. I'm pretty close to being equal to the median income for a single person so I'm way under for a two person household.

I think I want to get this whole thing over with before we actually get married. That way we can start our married life without this whole mess.

I'm really glad that I found this out because I've been thinking that I would have to wait and see if I can force my income down.... of course I don't really want to do that if I don't have to.

This new info really makes me feel much better! Thanks!