Receipts and chapter 7

[lalap123]

Hi,
I just retained an attorney about a month ago and he has not told me to keep any receipts...is this only necessary if I plan on having expenses well over the standard? What is the likelihood that the trustee will ask for receipts if everything I claim is within or only slightly above the IRS standards? Of course I have all the standard bills in paper or online, but I'm talking about grocery store, clothing, home improvement stores, etc.

Also, should I be worried about someone picking apart my bank statement? Like, if we are eating out too much or spend too much money at the department store? Will I be asked to explain some of my purchases? The problem is that I don't have many receipts to prove what was bought, maybe only about a month's worth

[liz417]

I just had my 341 today, I am over the median and over on some of the allowable expenses. I saved EVERYTHING/EVERY RECEIPT for the last year. Lugged all my stuff to my 341 and wasn't asked for anything.
I would recommend that *if* you are trying to claim over an allowable expenses, save your receipts...just in case.

[aces67]

I've been keeping all my receipts just in case. I'll be glad when it's over so I can throw them away.

[tinfoilhat]

i WAS TOLD BANK STATEMENTS ONLY.
Good question though, what if you paid everything in cash?

I sold a car and was told how to use the money, I have the bank statements, AND reciepts. Even though they tell me they don't need them, if they question me I'll have proof on paper times 2.

Another thing I wondered, what about the walmart purchases when you take cash out? Will the trustee want to know where that cash went?

My old bank account never said cash back on the bank statement, my new one does, and it doesn't say how much was taken out.

[lalap123]

I wondered the same thing about the cash back showing up on my debit card purchases (mostly at the grocery store). I can't even remember how much cash back I got - they don't allow more than $50 at a time so I don't think the trustee could be that interested in it unless you did it twice a week every week. I usually do it once a week or every other week, usually for around $40. That money is used for McDonald's for the kids, little things here and there...I guess I could come up with some of the receipts from old purses that I haven't cleaned out

From what I gather so far unless you are doing something that looks shady (like the above example or writing checks/making purchases for over $500 routinely), receipts aren't probably going to be needed.

What I was more worried about was someone going through my bank statement and saying, "Hey, why did you go to Wal-Mart twice in one week and spend $100 each time?" With three kids and a husband that works full-time and me working part-time, we routinely forget things at the grocery store and have to go back. I hope that he/she will take that as a good enough explanation and realize that some months we go over budget on certain things depending on the circumstances (like when we have to get three birthday gifts in one week for the kids' friend's parties, etc.)

[Amy26]

I was also told that I didn't need to keep receipts... I think my lawyer overinflated our grocery expense a little but I've been tucking away receipts every time we go to target or the grocery store anyways... I usually always throw them away cause I hate receipts. I'm also worried they will be like why were you buying brand names when you should be buying giant brand or target brand... lol.

I'm so nervous about that stuff... the little things you know... like the lawyer told you not to worry about it and then ooops...

Will the excuse "my lawyer told me I didn't need it?" work?