Dependents (21 yr old College Students)

[timeouts1]

We are pretty stressed! Finally talked with a bk attorney 12/2008. She advised that we may not meet the criteria for chap 7 due to our 21 year old full time college students and she did not believe bk trustee will consider dependents. She called last night and stated she is not sure we meet the means test for chap 7. Our adult full time college students are not dependents she states according to bk law. They have taken out loans for college but we fully support (health insurance, food, clothing, etc). Anyone else deal with adult children and going through filing for BK?

[B65]

just sent

you a private msg.

[WC Nurse]

We have two adult children (19 & 21) who are college students; our 21 y.o. son lives away at the dorms and our 19 y.o. daughter still lives at home. We were told that college is considered a luxury and we couldn't count college tuition/books/etc as an expense.

Because our 19 year old daughter still lives at home and is totally dependent on us for food, shelter, insurance, etc. and she doesn't work, we were able to count her as part of the household, which helped us pass the means test. Without being able to count her, we wouldn't have passed.

[kathy4530050]

I don't know if this will help, but here is what I posted on another thread regarding household size:

I have consulted with 3 lawyers on this very question and got 3 different responses. I have 2 sons in college, one of whom lives with me full-time and goes to community college, and the other goes to school out of state and lives with me whenever he is on break. I take care of all of the living expenses of the son who lives with me, and contribute to the living expenses of the son who is out of state. Their father pays their tuition (we're divorced), and they both have part-time jobs for their own spending money. I claim both of them as my dependents. Here's what I was told:

Lawyer #1: I cannot add either one to my household as both are over 18 years of age. Dependency status doesn't matter.

Lawyer #2: I can add the one who lives with me because he is my dependent, he is a full-time student, and he does not contribute to the family income.

Lawyer #3: I can add both to my household size because both are my dependents, both are full-time students, neither contribute to the family income, and my son who is out of state during the academic year comes home for a month at Christmas, a week at both Thanksgiving and Easter, and 4 months during the spring/summer. His living situation at school is temporary--a dorm is not a household. The household he belongs to is mine.

So, you can guess which lawyer I like best. Lawyer #1 is the youngest and I trust him the least. Lawyer #3 is the oldest and the most expensive and was recommended to me by another lawyer who said that if he were going through bk, he would choose this guy to represent him.

Lawyer #3 said that this whole area is subject to interpretation and an argument could be made for many non-traditional living arrangements.

So . . . it seems that we need the lawyer who understands our situation, has a good relationship with (and understanding of) the trustees, and is confident that he/she can successfully represent us.

[Flamingo]

I was advised that if you provide more than half of the support in a given year for a child/adult and if that person resides with you more than six months out of the year, you can claim that person as a dependent, unless something is indicated otherwise in a support agreement for a child if a divorce is involved. If your adult children fall into that category you can claim them as dependents for tax purposes. I believe the BK code follows the IRS guidelines for household and dependent status. Also the loans they have taken out are probably based on your household income and not just for them (are they Stafford Loans?).