Critique My Schedule J

[rjmwx81]

Would like to hear your thoughts on my Schedule J as it stands now. Anything that will get the trustee's attention? (I'm under the median by about $5K.)

Rent 697
Car 303
Fuel/Maint 200
Health Insurance 245
Dental Insurance 47
Charitable 50
Electric 90
Car Insurance 80
Domestic Support/Alimony 100
Phone (cell only, required for work) 110
Cable 80
Internet (required for work) 60
Clothing 40
Laundry 40
Household 20
Med/Dental Out of pocket: 40
Groceries 260
Pets 15
Personal Care Items 20
Gym 40

Anticipated changes: Domestic support obligation ends April 2011; will be offset by increase in car insurance (deductible is too high, want to lower it) and rent. Also will have to file for an annulment through the church, one-time fee of $600.

Without the anticipated changes, I'm at a DMI of $23 per month. Thoughts?

[justbroke]

Looks good to me. I'm assuming that you're single and have no children.

[rjmwx81]

Correct. Well, divorced. Thus the alimony payment.

[ozarkmiss]

If you're under the median income and below $100 DMI, what do you have to worry about? Hold your head High. ;-)

[rjmwx81]

I'm just a little paranoid I suppose. If the trustee disallows something, then all of a sudden I'm above $100 DMI. That's my worry. Cable bill, gym membership, increasing my insurance to make up for the alimony expense going away...those have me nervous.

[rjmwx81]

If the trustee disallows something, then all of a sudden I'm above $100 DMI. That's my worry. Cable bill, gym membership, increasing my insurance to make up for the alimony expense going away...those have me nervous.

Anyone have an opinion on whether the trustee would object to any of those?

[justbroke]

Anyone have an opinion on whether the trustee would object to any of those?

Gym membership, unless you just claim it under all "recreational" amounts.

[ladycee]

Increasing car insurance??? Is that a necessity? Do you have any association dues? perhaps work related? subscriptions that are work related?

Chris

[rjmwx81]

Gym membership, unless you just claim it under all "recreational" amounts.

That's kind of what I was afraid of. My concern is that, combined with the $80 cable bill, I'm looking at $120 in recreation...which seems high to me. On the other hand, the IRS allowances provide for $87 in "miscellaneous" expenses, so then I'm only looking at about $33 that the UST can object to, correct?

[rjmwx81]

Increasing car insurance??? Is that a necessity?

Right now I have a very high deductible, so much so that if I were to file a claim, I might not be able to pay it. So yes, I'd argue it is a necessity; I need to get the deductible down to a manageable level. I'm also assuming that my basic rate is going to jump due to the bankruptcy, since it's partially based on credit history/score.

There are work-related associations I can join, but they're not really required for my current job, so I don't think I could argue that they are a necessity.

[ccsjoe]

That's kind of what I was afraid of. My concern is that, combined with the $80 cable bill, I'm looking at $120 in recreation...which seems high to me. On the other hand, the IRS allowances provide for $87 in "miscellaneous" expenses, so then I'm only looking at about $33 that the UST can object to, correct?

If you're doing Schedule J forget about IRS allowances. J is about actual expenses. I am well over median, barely passed means, squeaked by on J and am awaiting discharge. That being said, my attorney included my $119.65 cable bill (along with DSL bill $34, Garbage service $27 and Cell phone bills $110) under 2-Utilities- Other with an attached schedule, and our $89 gym membership was included under recreation rounded up to $100.

[rjmwx81]

If you're doing Schedule J forget about IRS allowances. J is about actual expenses.

Right, but my understanding is that expenses beneath the IRS allowances are less prone to scrutiny. Or am I mistaken?

[ladycee]

they do allow work related subscriptions, and also associations. AARP was on mine. and atty asked me if there were any magazines or subscriptions related to employment.

Chris

[ccsjoe]

Unless the expense is exhorbitant, e.g. cable bill= 180+ or cell phone for 1 = 75 or 100, then you should be fine. Do the following. Firgure out by how much your DMI on J is negative. Then add the expenses that you think may be taken away. If at the end you're still negative or under 100 or so positive, there's going to be no contest.

In my case I also included (divided by 12) my Costco annual membership, AAA membership, vehicle registration fee, etc

I think you're overkilling this which is why I'm asking you to do the above exercise.

[LaurieM]

Would like to hear your thoughts on my Schedule J as it stands now. Anything that will get the trustee's attention? (I'm under the median by about $5K.)

Rent 697
Car 303
Fuel/Maint 200
Health Insurance 245
Dental Insurance 47
Charitable 50
Electric 90
Car Insurance 80
Domestic Support/Alimony 100
Phone (cell only, required for work) 110
Cable 80
Internet (required for work) 60
Clothing 40
Laundry 40
Household 20
Med/Dental Out of pocket: 40 (do you wear glasses? any regular meds which you pay for out of pocket? co-pays?)
Groceries 260 ( single ppl $350 to 400 per month in this category when we do input at our firm)
Pets 15 (that would barely cover any shots etc.... I'd up that to more like $30 per month)
Personal Care Items 20 (around here $50 for this which includes haircuts)
Gym 40

Anticipated changes: Domestic support obligation ends April 2011; will be offset by increase in car insurance (deductible is too high, want to lower it) and rent. Also will have to file for an annulment through the church, one-time fee of $600.

Without the anticipated changes, I'm at a DMI of $23 per month. Thoughts?

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