New Member Help Please

[good2free]

Hello All,

I am reading this forum for more than 6 months and is super useful. I am going for chapter 7. I signed the papers at the layers office today and he is going to file on 8th Oct.

I have some questions regarding my paper work.
I am above median and passed the means test with -$25.
My attorney did not add my property tax,HOA any where in the means test. I want him to but he could not find the right place for it. Can some on tell me where to add it.
I am paying 2100 for my mortgage and it does not include

Property tax = $675.
HOA = $113

My attorney has 25+ years experience and I am wondering how come he does not know this?

In the schedule J he added the two items some where in other category.

Please help!!

I am putting 15% of my salary in 401K and at the end he said it may raise a question with trustee but he said he would fight it. I am telling him right from beginning and he said it's ok all along but now changed his opinion.

I paid the money and good to go but I am worried about these items.

thanks
Peter

[lifelesson]

our taxes I think were put in under misc and the word taxes was listed next to the amount. also included misc school expenses for our 3 boys (per our atty)

[StartingOver08]

If your attorney is not familiar with real estate taxes and HOA payments being made outside of the mortgage payment, you need to find another attorney. Find a good one before you file. There are attornies of all types - some have 25 yrs of experience and some have the first year of experience 25 times.....

Don't risk YOUR ch 7 with an attorney that does not know what he/she is doing. JMO.

[jribe]

i wouldn't worry so much about the HOA and taxes not being in the means test section. You still pass right?

The important part is on your actual schedules- which you said he added those to the schedules.

And the 15% of your salary likely WILL be a problem. Unless your company matches 15% dollar for dollar you're putting in too much when filing for liquidation bankruptcy. The normal amount is 6%. Besides, the 401k money you're contributing isn't deducted from your means test or schedules for income- so it's not helping you "pass" or anything. Personally, i would lower it to 6% until after your 341 to avoid any extra attention from the trustee.

Hello All,

I am reading this forum for more than 6 months and is super useful. I am going for chapter 7. I signed the papers at the layers office today and he is going to file on 8th Oct.

I have some questions regarding my paper work.
I am above median and passed the means test with -$25.
My attorney did not add my property tax,HOA any where in the means test. I want him to but he could not find the right place for it. Can some on tell me where to add it.
I am paying 2100 for my mortgage and it does not include

Property tax = $675.
HOA = $113

My attorney has 25+ years experience and I am wondering how come he does not know this?

In the schedule J he added the two items some where in other category.

Please help!!

I am putting 15% of my salary in 401K and at the end he said it may raise a question with trustee but he said he would fight it. I am telling him right from beginning and he said it's ok all along but now changed his opinion.

I paid the money and good to go but I am worried about these items.

thanks
Peter

[Chowder]

My attorney has 25+ years experience and I am wondering how come he does not know this?

I had many questions my Attorney did not have a ready answer to either. Mostly from over-information from this forum. In my case he did not know the answers, because the questions were a nonissue. What's important is that he has experience in your area, with your trustee.

[good2free]

Thank you all for the responses.

Can any one tell me the line number from means test, where I can put in my real estate taxes?

jribe
You said I need to go to 6% for 401 K but should I change it now and check Schedule J? Trustee looks at 6 months pay stubs right? I met this guy 4 months ago and he should have told me back then I suppose.

Thanks

[shabam]

I would change it now as the amount on the day of filing is what counts. Trustee looks at Gross income, so it would not matter regarding the lookback period.

Being over the median while contributing 15%, will result in a UST to looking at your case.

[aljohnson007]

Item 12, Schedule J.
I listed income taxes deducted from my retirement, property taxes and whatever else that wasn't deducted elsewhere. Hope this helps.

[jribe]

yes- change it now. The trustee will see your 6 months of paystubs; but it's better for you to change it now- rather than have the trustee notice the 15% and throw you into a ch. 13 because of the extra disposable income.

He should have mentioned this before; if you search the posts - there was a guy here a few months back that was questioned by the trustee and was put in a 13 because of his retirement contributions. 6% is a safe bet.

good luck

Thank you all for the responses.

Can any one tell me the line number from means test, where I can put in my real estate taxes?

jribe
You said I need to go to 6% for 401 K but should I change it now and check Schedule J? Trustee looks at 6 months pay stubs right? I met this guy 4 months ago and he should have told me back then I suppose.

Thanks

[good2free]

Item 12, Schedule J.
I listed income taxes deducted from my retirement, property taxes and whatever else that wasn't deducted elsewhere. Hope this helps.

Yes, that is the same place we used. I am wondering if there is any place in Means test.

We used line 17 in schedule J for HOA,cellphone and child care.

[good2free]

yes- change it now. The trustee will see your 6 months of paystubs; but it's better for you to change it now- rather than have the trustee notice the 15% and throw you into a ch. 13 because of the extra disposable income.

He should have mentioned this before; if you search the posts - there was a guy here a few months back that was questioned by the trustee and was put in a 13 because of his retirement contributions. 6% is a safe bet.

good luck

I will talk to him tomorrow and see what happens. If I change the 401k to 6% my DMI will be negative number as well.

[good2free]

Hello,

I just spoke with my attorney and he says changing the 401K contribution now may not help since the trustee looks at 6months average.

Any comments on this?

I am feeling little bit confident to file as is since my means test result is -125 per month and my Schedule J is at -550 per month.

I think I should trust my attorney since he files at least 10 cases a week and is well known in the court. Another problem is I wanted to do CH13 all along but changed the course to CH7 couple of weeks ago. He said he is going to study the file carefully one more time and will get back to me tomorrow. He answers my question right away and he spent at least 6hrs with so far regarding my case ( unlike dealing with paralegal I speak to him directly)

thanks

[good2free]

our taxes I think were put in under misc and the word taxes was listed next to the amount. also included misc school expenses for our 3 boys (per our atty)

I think you are saying line 56 in means test. I passes the test at line 50 so no issues I think.