Paid attorney to file, then got better job in another state...

[keepswimming]

We are confused! We paid the attorney three weeks ago so we could file our chapter 7. We have not paid creditors for a whole year and we have been looking for better jobs, etc. Now my husband has been offered a better job in another state, so our attorney tells us we should not file until AFTER we get to the new state. He said we have too many "unknowns".... He is keeping $600 of our $1571 that we paid him, and now says we should wait.

Does anyone know how possible "future income" affects a BK? We will still have a house payment to make here until our house sells, moving expenses, and a load of other new living expenses until everything settles down. We are two months behind on mortgage, and qualified for ch. 7 hands down up until now. We are glad to have a new job opportunity, but how are we going to ever get a new mortgage with 12-18 months worth of non payment on 60K worth of debt? Should we just try to settle with these on our own? Should we file in the new state? Should we try to get another attorney asap so we can try to get this through before we move and start getting bigger checks? Three of our creditors have sent us letters thru the sheriff that they are suing.

[BCA2009]

Will your new income prevent you from qualifying for Chap 7? From what I understand you will still be subject to your old states' exemptions. If it's possible, i would want to go ahead and file and get it over with.

When does the new job start? Can you negotiate a start date in about 5 weeks? If you file immediately, you can probably get a 341 date in about 4 weeks.

Sound like your attorney want $600 of easy money and not deal with any semi-complicated issues. What has he done so far to earn that $600?

[newbie2]

We are confused! We paid the attorney three weeks ago so we could file our chapter 7. We have not paid creditors for a whole year and we have been looking for better jobs, etc. Now my husband has been offered a better job in another state, so our attorney tells us we should not file until AFTER we get to the new state. He said we have too many "unknowns".... He is keeping $600 of our $1571 that we paid him, and now says we should wait.

Does anyone know how possible "future income" affects a BK? We will still have a house payment to make here until our house sells, moving expenses, and a load of other new living expenses until everything settles down. We are two months behind on mortgage, and qualified for ch. 7 hands down up until now. We are glad to have a new job opportunity, but how are we going to ever get a new mortgage with 12-18 months worth of non payment on 60K worth of debt? Should we just try to settle with these on our own? Should we file in the new state? Should we try to get another attorney asap so we can try to get this through before we move and start getting bigger checks? Three of our creditors have sent us letters thru the sheriff that they are suing.

You won't be getting a new mortgage with the recent late payments anyway. Even if you sell your home and pay it off in full you will have 2 recent late payments on your mortgage showing.

Also, since you don't know what your future expenses are going to be (rent, etc) your attorney may be giving you very good advice about waiting. If it's the pay increase that is motivating you to file now, then by all means consult another attorney for an additional point of view.

Good luck to you.

[keepswimming]

we will not be able to wait five weeks to start the new job. the only reason we are two payments behind is ALSO due to the attorney's advice. he told us to go ahead and get the house ready for sale, and if it sells, great, if not we will roll the surrender in with the BK. now that we have sunk another 3K into the home to get it ready for sale, we are now in a worse jam.

our income in current state is only like 10k according to our p and L on taxes, even though husband's w2s gross about 45K per year. the new job will be 80k, so yes i believe (not sure) that we will be out of the range for a ch 7 after july income kicks in. i swear we ALWAYS zig when we should zag. i am so frustrated.