So I was told to 'average' my expenses for 12 months, and I get that. But can I also 'average' my income? I did not have any income for several months out of the year, which is why I ask. If I 'average' expenses, but not income, that is going to present a skewed picture of DMI. Thanks.
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I will answer my own question (in case anyone else is wondering similar). Just read the instructions on Schedule J, and, yes, it says to take an 'average' of current and projected income. -
One more note, which is that the questionnaire my law firm sent me asks for household expenses that I SHOULD expect to have, so what someone else said here in another post just might be correct, that expenses are both current AND forward looking. In other words, I can put down what my normal expenses would be if I were no longer paying the usual $1500 per month to the credit cards. I may update this topic once I work through the 'final' expense worksheet with the law firm, to confirm. Again, the expenses they are asking about appear to be forward looking.Comment
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I can't advise what you should do but, yes, I regarded Schedule J as forward-looking (seemed to be what the instructions asked for) without payments to the to-be-discharged unsecured debt. Generally I tried to stay within IRS local standards or what I could justify by previous expenses. (E.g., my medical was above local standards, but amply justified by our history of medical bills. Also, I hadn't previously had renters' insurance but I did want to get some, so I low-balled that.)
There have been weird wrinkles from others, like people sometimes being able to include payments to secured things they're actually expecting to surrender, not retain, but I think that's district-specific and I didn't try anything like that myself.Comment
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