Pay stub question 2011

[mychelle]

I get paid biweekly and planning to file first week of March. In my district, i am suppose to include 60 days of paystubs with my filing. However, my last two months is only actually 56 days, 4 paystubs (pay period 1/2/2011 through 2/26/2011). Should i wait to file on after 2nd week of March to include another paystub and it would cover more than 60 days.

[AngelinaCat]

Hi mychelle: I moved your question into a thread of its own so that it would be more easily seen and responded to.

To answer your question, even though your district only requires 2 months worth of pay stubs (pay advices--if direct deposit) I recommend submitting the full 6 months worth of pay stubs or pay advices. Your post does not indicate whether you have an attorney or not, but if you do, I suggest asking this question of him/her.

If you are attempting to file on your own, I suggest reading all the 'stickies' that exist in the Ch7 Forum, and the Pro Se Forum. Then go to nolopress.com and purchase the down-loadable form of their latest guide on filing Ch7 BK. That manual will become your basic Reference tool for these types of questions.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

[mychelle]

thanks angelina. i was initially going to file pro se but i'm married, spouse not filing and it's getting complicated to fill out the forms. also, since i made more money than usual in oct-dec due to a lot of OT and holiday bonus, we may not pass the means test. i had a phone consult today (who told me i can do ch 13 but not ch 7) and another one tomorrow. i'm behind my cc payments for at least 30 days but current on the car. no mortgage, no assets really.

to pass the means test, i can't file until after June this year and we may have to increase our expenses (i made sure to rent a small cheap apt so we can afford to pay our debts and my husband is using my 10+ yr old car.)

if we decide to buy a car, it cannot be within 6 months of filing correct? what about moving to another apt? another unit in our building will be available next month and it will increase our rent by $400/month.

[daylate]

I don't think there is a prohibition on buying a car before filing. As long as you don't put it on your credit cards (small bankruptcy attempt at humor). In a recent court case Justice Scalia actually wrote in his opinion about financing a clunker to be able to get the full auto credits on the means test. With the rent thing depending on where you live and if you are under/over the median income if it costs above the standard for your area that could cause you a problem when you fill out Schedules I & J.

[tcreegan]

Hi mychelle,

Go here for the "IRS standard" rent for your county in CA

http://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/20101101/bci_data/housing_charts/irs_housing_charts_CA.htm

Be somewhere close to that.

Buying a car before a BK is pretty common. Lots of folks are getting rid of an over priced gas guzzler about to fall apart, and picking up something reliable and reasonable. The 6-month rule is for unsecured debts, transactions w/ family, hiding huge sums of cash, ...well, I guess that last one won't be a problem....but a secured car loan is not a problem, if you don't pay they come get the car. Bk or no BK, they can come get the car if you don't make the payments, so 6 months, last month, next month, doesn't really matter.

Welcome aboard, keep posting, lots of good folks around here to help out!

Tom in Colo