Please Help! My Attorney messed up Schedule I and J.

[debtfreedom]

Please help. We filed on July 1st and were under the median income. When the attorney sent us the forms for filing, the schedule I had about $1,000 more per month then what my husband makes. I told our attorney at the time, this is not correct, my husband doesn't make this much. The attorney told me that they like to take the average of the previous 2 months of filing and use it for the schedule I. The way the payperiods fell in May and June, it has an additional check in there and is skewing the data. Well, I believed what my attorney told me.
We have our 341 on July 28th. We just got a letter from the US Trustee that they wanted all of our paystubs for Jan 1st-June 30th and our taxes with W2's for last year. On the letter it stated that we were over the median income on schedule I.
I am a nervous wreck now. I can't sleep and feel like I am having an anxiety attack. The US Trustee is now interested in our case. We do have substantial debt, over $100k, so that could be why as well.
After reading info on this forum last night, I realized my attorney should have put the real accurate info for our income on schedule I.
What do we do now? Can we refile our schedule I and J? Our J already had a negative amount each month, but now wondering if our attorney did all of our expenses right too?

Please help, I am going to have a nervous breakdown and feel like my life is in limbo. I can't bear the thought of having to do a Chap 13.

Do I get another attorney? Our 341 is in 11 days.

[JRScott]

Okay hang on, try not to panic.

Yes you can have your Schedule I and J amended.

With debt of over 100k then yes the UST was bound to look at the case no matter what.

I'd schedule a review with the lawyer and if you can take the adjustments you need. Now my lawyer took the last 6 months and averaged that which is probably better than 2 months.

The requests for information is standard so far for a UST.

Take the letter over to his office and discuss with him. Let him show you what he filed and both go over it again. Make sure all the expenses are real ones and see what you can do or if you need to do anything at this time.

[LuciluS]

Here are the two schedules. Complete them with the correct amounts. You have two options:

1. Take them to the Attorney and, in a nice way, demand he file an Amendment which will cost you $26 in court costs. Usually an Attorney will charge you also. Tell him he made the mistake and he can 'eat' his costs.

2. Take 3 copies with you to the 341. One for you, one for the Attorney and one for the Trustee.

If I were in your shoes, I would attempt the first option as it gives the Trustee and UST time to review them.

http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/BK_Forms_1207/B_006I_1207f.pdf

http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/BK_Forms_1207/B_006I_1207f.pdf

Good Luck

[justbroke]

Please help. We filed on July 1st and were under the median income. When the attorney sent us the forms for filing, the schedule I had about $1,000 more per month then what my husband makes. I told our attorney at the time, this is not correct, my husband doesn't make this much. The attorney told me that they like to take the average of the previous 2 months of filing and use it for the schedule I.

Remember, Schedule I is not a look back, it is a current view. The Trustee has a special sheet that they use to validate Schedule I themselves. While the Means Test asks for "current monthly income" and has a 6 month average of income from all sources, Schedule I is just "current income". I would follow your Attorney's lead on how "they" do it.

The way the payperiods fell in May and June, it has an additional check in there and is skewing the data. Well, I believed what my attorney told me.

Skewing, I wouldn't call it skewed, it's actual. But that's me.

We have our 341 on July 28th. We just got a letter from the US Trustee that they wanted all of our paystubs for Jan 1st-June 30th and our taxes with W2's for last year. On the letter it stated that we were over the median income on schedule I. I am a nervous wreck now. I can't sleep and feel like I am having an anxiety attack. The US Trustee is now interested in our case. We do have substantial debt, over $100k, so that could be why as well.

This is absolutely positively normal for a debtor that is attempting to discharge near $100K or more of unsecured debt. The UST gets involved whether you're over or under the median. This was unavoidable.

After reading info on this forum last night, I realized my attorney should have put the real accurate info for our income on schedule I.

So, what defines accurate?

What do we do now? Can we refile our schedule I and J? Our J already had a negative amount each month, but now wondering if our attorney did all of our expenses right too?

You talk to your attorney. If there are bonafide changes, then the attorney will file an amended Schedule I & J. (Just because you have a particular expense, doesn't mean it gets to go on Schedule J.) At this point, all this talk is moot anyhow with respect to expenses as your Schedule J is negative right now. What I'm saying is, it would not matter if your Schedule J were any more negative. You are going to be put through a more extensive review because of the amounts and types of debt you are discharging. They'd do this to you if your Schedule J showed $100 or -$2000.

Amending the schedules is quite routine -- meaning it happens in many cases.

[OhioFiler]

It sounds like the UST is doing you a favor if you are paid on a bi-weekly basis and you received 3 checks in one of those months. He can easily see that your true current income is not what is reported on the Schedule I.

Our attorney used a factor of 2.1 times our bi-weekly pay to determine what our average current monthly income is. I thought that was a little bit low but apparently that is what they use in our district.

I doubt you are going to have a problem. I can assure you going all crazy about it and worrying yourself sick this weekend won't help!

[2manybills]

Also, what district are you in? High debt in certain districts is treated differently than in others.

[debtfreedom]

I am located in Eastern WA. Anyone have any input?

[justbroke]

I am located in Eastern WA. Anyone have any input?

Regardless of which District you're in... if you have high unsecured debt that you are discharging (approaching and certainly exceeding $100K), where it's not mostly medical, you will have the U.S. Trustee "interested" in your case. It's just that simple. The U.S. Trustee's job is to make sure the system is not abused (period).

What documentation is required from you is more based on your local District requirements. Since you are self-employed, they may need to look further (more time) into your expenses.

It's quite simple though... you just provide all the documentation requested. You adhere to all U.S. Trustee requests, and then deal with any motions (dismissal or otherwise) that the U.S. Trustee throws your way.

When you have a large amount of unsecured debt (~$100K or more), it just doesn't matter what's on your Schedule I and Schedule J, as it will be scrutinized as the U.S. Trustee ensures that you are not abusing the system (because it's his job to do so).

[2manybills]

I agree that they will look, but I think what I was trying to say is that they are certainly going to look differently at someone who was earning $30K a year and created $150K in cc debt than at someone who was maybe earning $120K before their jobs went crazy and created that much debt.

I always wonder why no one asks the cc companies why they issued so much available credit to people. We still had another $40K available to us before we filed. It is a scarry cycle that's for sure!

[Bandit]

Regardless of which District you're in... if you have high debt that you are discharging (approaching and certainly exceeding $100K), where it's not mostly medical, you will have the U.S. Trustee "interested" in your case. It's just that simple. The U.S. Trustee's job is to make sure the system is not abused (period).

Right. When they see all medical bills they fly right by it. I used to think it was becuase of compassion, but now I think it is because there is nothing for them to take from you

[fyi2]

Regardless of which District you're in... if you have high debt that you are discharging (approaching and certainly exceeding $100K), where it's not mostly medical, you will have the U.S. Trustee "interested" in your case. It's just that simple. The U.S. Trustee's job is to make sure the system is not abused (period).

I have BIG debt to discharge as well and I have not received notice from the UST yet, I am fresh out of the 341

My income was well able to support my debt and then took a dramatic decline in the past 8months

The documents asked of the OP (tax years/6months stubs/bank statements) I provided to my attorney at the get go though so maybe the UST was interested but has already looked at it?

I wonder if the OP's attorney was already concerned about possible involvement or if the error is what caused things to look "fishy"

[justbroke]

I agree that they will look, but I think what I was trying to say is that they are certainly going to look differently at someone who was earning $30K a year and created $150K in cc debt than at someone who was maybe earning $120K before their jobs went crazy and created that much debt.

Actually, the person with $30K a year and $150K in debt, would be scrutinized more. Wondering how they amassed that much debt without fraud.

I always wonder why no one asks the cc companies why they issued so much available credit to people. We still had another $40K available to us before we filed. It is a scarry cycle that's for sure!

Some people lied about their income... especially on those Stated Income based loans. Also, the Banks were complicit as they didn't verify anything or do any due diligence to vet a persons ability to actually repay the loan(s). It is a combination of greed (debtor) and greed (lender).

[fyi2]

Please help. We filed on July 1st and were under the median income. When the attorney sent us the forms for filing, the schedule I had about $1,000 more per month then what my husband makes. I told our attorney at the time, this is not correct, my husband doesn't make this much. The attorney told me that they like to take the average of the previous 2 months of filing and use it for the schedule I. The way the payperiods fell in May and June, it has an additional check in there and is skewing the data. Well, I believed what my attorney told me.
We have our 341 on July 28th. We just got a letter from the US Trustee that they wanted all of our paystubs for Jan 1st-June 30th and our taxes with W2's for last year. On the letter it stated that we were over the median income on schedule I.
I am a nervous wreck now. I can't sleep and feel like I am having an anxiety attack. The US Trustee is now interested in our case. We do have substantial debt, over $100k, so that could be why as well.
After reading info on this forum last night, I realized my attorney should have put the real accurate info for our income on schedule I.
What do we do now? Can we refile our schedule I and J? Our J already had a negative amount each month, but now wondering if our attorney did all of our expenses right too?

Please help, I am going to have a nervous breakdown and feel like my life is in limbo. I can't bear the thought of having to do a Chap 13.

Do I get another attorney? Our 341 is in 11 days.

Hang in there, The UST just needs more info
as long as you have answered all question honestly and included all information you will be ok

did you do the numbers yourself as well? there are websites that you can runthe means test and taking a look at schedule I & J is a big help

just so you are not leaving everything in someone else's hands

The UST will see the error on I after looking at your Stubs

[justbroke]

I have BIG debt to discharge as well and I have not received notice from the UST yet, I am fresh out of the 341

It's specifically "unsecured" debt, not just general debt. Many people have $500K or more in secured debt to discharge. The issue is on the unsecured debt... Visa, Mastercard, American Express. Not so much Lowe's, Home Depot, Home Loans, Furniture loans... because they are secured debt.

The documents asked of the OP (tax years/6months stubs/bank statements) I provided to my attorney at the get go though so maybe the UST was interested but has already looked at it?

Or, your debt was not all unsecured debt.

I wonder if the OP's attorney was already concerned about possible involvement or if the error is what caused things to look "fishy"

I don't believe so. The mere fact that you have $100K or more in unsecured non-medical debt to discharge weighs heavily on a "closer" look and U.S. Trustee involvement. They can't get involved in every case just due to sheer volume. What they have, are trigger points which allows them to concentrate on the cases which are possibly an abuse of the system. This seems to work well, and I have no quarrels with that particular practice. it makes the under-median below $100K unsecured debt cases go through real smoothly and real quickly... as intended by Congress.

Also, your case could be easy for the U.S. Trustee. You had recent job loss or a large decline income production capability. They saw that there was no way for you to get back to being able to service that debt. In that case... they know there's no real challenge. If your case presented itself differently, still employed by same employer, no change in income or job status, and now you show up with $100K+ in unsecured debt... different story... must more "interest".

[2manybills]

Does it show up on Pacer if the UST wants anything?