Means Test Income

[lwh1961]

I'm working on the means test.

I get a regular paycheck so I have wages. But I also get about $350 a month in commisions from when my (deceased) father sold life insurance in the 80's. It isn't tied to my name in any way. It comes in a company name that was my fathers business name. I don't have to claim it for tax purposes and pay SE tax because the IRS code says it it not my business.

Obviously I'm going to have to discuss this with my attorney when I find one, but I just wanted to throw it out there and see what kind of comments I get. i'm sure someone will say something that I had not thought of. Thanks

[MarieT]

I don't have an answer to the above question but have a question along the same line. We got a judgment several years ago against an individual who stole a large amount of money from us. After the judgment, we were forced to settle for less with him or we had no way to pay our attorney fees. The other option would have been to push for him to be in jail. We settled with him and agreed to take less than half of what he owed us if he would pay regular monthly payments until the reduced amount is paid off. Even at that, 40% of the reduced amount goes to our attorney and then the attorney sends us the rest. It only amounts to $317 a month and there have been times when we have not received a payment for 3 to 5 months in a row.

So I guess my question is, do we need to count this as income? It is repayment of money that we have already paid income tax and greatly reduced at that.

[HHM]

If you get it, it is yours, and it is income for the means test.