Living at home - no rent but still buried in debt

[Buried1]

Until August of this year I had been unemployed for over a year and buried myself in debt. In Aug I moved in to another state to live with my parents while I tried to get my life back.

I managed to find a job a few weeks later, but am still in deep debt and will be filing bankruptcy. What I am concerned about is that I am not paying rent. Does anyone have a comment on or are in a similar situation?

Will not paying rent be an issue with the Trustee? I do make decent money but do meet the means test.

Thank you for any replies.

[nc73]

You need to see a lawyer. At least so they can verify your means test. Decent income and no rent but you still can't make ends meet? How much debt do you have in relation to income etc, if you don't mind?

[jribe]

the trustee won't care specifically about not paying rent; they will care if you have disposable income to pay your creditors back in a chp.13.

Go and do an online means test, such as the one from "legal consumer".

It will have you enter your income information over the last 6 months and your other expenses.

Health insurance, taxes, car payments, etc all go in for expenses. If you're not making a lot- you may be fine without having a rental amount.

If it says you don't qualify for a 7 you'll want to pay rent, or find other allowable expenses that won't be questioned.

Besides the means test though, there's also a schedule I & J - that go over current monthly income and current expenses.. check that out as well to see where you fall...

good luck

Until August of this year I had been unemployed for over a year and buried myself in debt. In Aug I moved in to another state to live with my parents while I tried to get my life back.

I managed to find a job a few weeks later, but am still in deep debt and will be filing bankruptcy. What I am concerned about is that I am not paying rent. Does anyone have a comment on or are in a similar situation?

Will not paying rent be an issue with the Trustee? I do make decent money but do meet the means test.

Thank you for any replies.

[JimKutkowski]

Will not paying rent be an issue with the Trustee? I do make decent money but do meet the means test.

Probably not, its all about the means test. A halfway decent attorney can do this calculation for you.

[music12]

if your job is even half-way decent, you are likely to have disposable income unless you pay rent. so pay rent starting now and through the bk process.

[JimKutkowski]

if your job is even half-way decent, you are likely to have disposable income unless you pay rent. so pay rent starting now and through the bk process.

The means test is the means test, paying rent to his parents will open a can of worms that he/she doesn't need. Do the calculation and where the chips land, the chips land.

If you can't qualify for C7 by the numbers, then you can start putting expenses on there, and even though you live at home, you still have expenses. Don't create a bill to qualify for C7, it could get you and your parents in trouble.

[music12]

i think many people do actually pay rent to their parents if they need to move back home in this crazy economy or for whatever reason. they would pay less rent than they would out in the world, parents aren't required to take their kids in for free once they reached a certain age. and as long as the rent is paid by check and not cash, why would there be a problem? would the trustees assume rent is not being paid?

[jribe]

The means test is the means test, paying rent to his parents will open a can of worms that he/she doesn't need. Do the calculation and where the chips land, the chips land.

If you can't qualify for C7 by the numbers, then you can start putting expenses on there, and even though you live at home, you still have expenses. Don't create a bill to qualify for C7, it could get you and your parents in trouble.

a lot of kids do pay rent to their parents. The issue Jim is bringing up is that if there is no record until *now* of him/her paying rent to the parents- it will create an issue.

But - say the OP goes and rents a studio apartment= perfectly acceptable.

[OhioFiler]

The problem isn't the issue of rent to mom or not. It's the household income issue that will effect him. His parent's income (including his paid rental income is considered). The OP's best bet is to find a place on his own.

[backtoschool]

The problem isn't the issue of rent to mom or not. It's the household income issue that will effect him. His parent's income (including his paid rental income is considered). The OP's best bet is to find a place on his own.

I agree with Ohiofiler, that if the OP starts paying rent to his/her parent's now, with no prior history of paying rent to the parents, then the trustee might want to include the parents income and expenses into the schedules.

Of course this could probably be argued away by a good lawyer, but still, suddenly paying rent to a parent right before filing for bankruptcy is going to be a red flag.