Newbie questions about the purpose of the Means Test...and paying attorney for it.

[tobee43]

Ashland is really a B.. U.. T.. FUL place. (we're about 1 1/2 hrs north)
River is really nice. (where we are i can walk to the Umpqua River)
WOW what an opportunity that would have been.
Lots of people dont like it here cuz of all the rain...(But we very seldom get snow)
we put a skylight in the kitchen so we could hear the rain better.

our bedroom use to have 32 skylights in it and we could watch lightening storms and hear the rain...it was so nice..until the footings of the room gave out and fell down...LOL!!!!! (was NOT funny at the time)...but it is now!

i ove oregon...always have and always will...even better than the bay area where i was born and raised.

[nicole1969]

Thanks so much everyone for your feedback. Really, really helpful! Love this board.

So I just got back from meeting with the attorney (paid him $250 for the test) but I do feel a lot better now. He completed the test in front of me and went through each item and talked about the state/federal law behind it. Based on the results, it shows theat we could file a month or two sooner than we had expected. If we file in January it shows that our annual income for family of 3 is 84K (yes, very high for family of 3) but the attorney went through all of the expenses and means test showed that we would still qualify for a family of 3 (and he is using the new median income numbers that came out this week.) This is good news for us, because the sooner the better. I was surprised that our expenses were so high but he took into account our 2 cars, our mortage/equity payment (2000K) as well as $1000K of daycare each month- as well as the usual expenses. These all added up to a pretty high number...

Thanks everyone.

[lfllffl]

Hi Nicole,
I know people file pro-se every day, and fill out their own forms, etc... It can be done, and I applaud those who take the time to study and risk in doing it themselves.

I filed 7 above the median, and let me say that I'm a pretty smart girl, but was so happy to have my attorney run the means test and fill out my schedules for me. In my case, being as close to the line of pass/fail as you get, I was relieved to have some expert advice.

I know you already said you paid the attorney to run the test for you, but I would have negotiated that into the attorney fees. If you've already signed the retainer, you may have a tough time negotiating now. But I found most lawyers that I interviewed were willing to incorporate any "mean's test" fees as payment towards my filing if I chose to file with them.

Good luck! I just got my discharge yesterday! Having a competent attorney pays off!

[debee]

Congrats on your discharge, lf !

[artgood]

We interviewed three attorneys and all said our case looks good for a Ch. 7 but because we are over the median by a few thousand (3-6K) they would want to do a means test - which they would charge me around $200 for.

When our attorney ran the numbers and we were over the median, our attorney said it would cost us $300 more - which we knew from our contract with her. Seems strange that we had to pay that much more just to run the means test, but oh well.

[tobee43]

When our attorney ran the numbers and we were over the median, our attorney said it would cost us $300 more - which we knew from our contract with her. Seems strange that we had to pay that much more just to run the means test, but oh well.

that most certainly DOES...what she figures you have more money so she going to charge you more....i would have been right out the door!!

some of these atty's really take advantage...she should have does the means test FIRST! for FREE in your consult.