Signed everything today, will be filed tomorrow morning.

[jeep75]

Signed everything today, will be filed tomorrow morning.

Thanks to Debee and everyone else that helped with my questions. I figured I'd start a new thread, a diary of sorts as to what happens with our case to help others in a similiar situation.

The way they calculate the six month look back on the means test any one time bonus's will be doubled. The income on your means test can be much higher than on the schedule I because of this. Depending on your situation you may be able to wait 6 months past a bonus to have it not count in the six month look back.

We ended up being $11,000 over median with these calculations.

One of the biggest pre-planning moves we made was to trade in a car that was paid off for a newer car with payment under $400 a month. This alone helped much with passing the means test. Car payments over $496 will usually be scrutinized. We have a second car payment under $300/mo.

One of the first things we did when we decided to file is get a google voice number and change our number to it on all the creditors websites. This has been a great thing. There have been over 1000 calls in the past 2 1/2 months alone to that number.

Our means test ended up at around $20.00 and the schedule J around $6.

I had sent our attorney tons of questions, stubs, bank statements and had the same feeling of being ignored as a lot of you, but when it came to meet and go everything 90% of what I sent in was in the forms correctly, that was a positive.

I'll post next when the 341 is scheduled and if anything is requested for it. I am expecting a lot of scrutiny being over median. If we end up being converted we are prepared for that also, it is pretty much out of our hands now!

[BROKEDED]

The way they calculate the six month look back on the means test any one time bonus's will be doubled. The income on your means test can be much higher than on the schedule I because of this. Depending on your situation you may be able to wait 6 months past a bonus to have it not count in the six month look back.

Are you sure? My wife ended up with a sizeable bonus right before we filed and we were told that it would be divided by 12 months....effectively halved, not doubled.

[BROKEDED]

I'll post next when the 341 is scheduled and if anything is requested for it. I am expecting a lot of scrutiny being over median. If we end up being converted we are prepared for that also, it is pretty much out of our hands now!

We were $24,000 over median with a 3 person household. Our 341 literally took less than 30 seconds. The Trustee didn't blink an eye. He hardly looked up from his paperwork except to tell us that we were done.

[IamOld]

Best of good luck to you!!!!

[jeep75]

Are you sure? My wife ended up with a sizeable bonus right before we filed and we were told that it would be divided by 12 months....effectively halved, not doubled.

I guess it can only help if the UST calculates it lower, the software our attorney used didn't bend nor did he when we tried to explain it.

[jeep75]

It was filed as of this morning, there is a case number, etc.. on pacer. What should I be looking for on pacer next?

[disconapper]

It was filed as of this morning, there is a case number, etc.. on pacer. What should I be looking for on pacer next?

Pacer isnt going to tell you much of anything really until after your 341. It will show you all your dockets (the case paperwork) mailing matrices etc, but not much of anything else. You will receive a notice from the court about your 341 meeting, that will also be on Pacer. After your 341 you will see more information, like case updates etc.

[BROKEDED]

Ours showed entries for our filing, then our credit counseling, then the notice to creditors of the 341. I expected there to be a notice of the 341 but oddly enough there was nothing. After that was a Motion for Relief from Stay, then the Trustee's report of No Distribution, then the Financial Management course, the Order Granting Motion for Relief from Stay, then some reaffirmation entries, and waiting on DISCHARGE!!!

Like disconapper said, nothing really important until after your 341. Like the PACER tips states, you can look at the last date of filing before you run a report. If it hasn't changed since the last time then nothing new has been added.

[jeep75]

I was hoping too that the 341 date and time would automatically populate.

In other news my wife got called into the office this afternoon and got what we calculate will be a $115/mo net raise effective the first pay period in July.

I'm not even sure what to think the Sched J shows $6 for monthly net income. Now it will be $121 when asked at the 341 if anything has changed. Over 60 months that will not be 10% of the unsecured debt. Not sure if we will be converted or not.

I'm not sure what to think, raises are supposed to feel good.

[debee]

Since your DMI is not enough to pay 25% of your nonpriority, unsecured debt so long as the rest of your schedule J is unassailable, you should be alright. Let your attorney know what happened.

Are your insurance deductibles all set at the lowest possible amount? Once we were set to file we lowered ours across the board. We were nervous thinking about what would happen if we actually needed insurance and had no credit/cash for the deductible. Rates go up, but then you have a little extra income now to cover it.

Hopefully your case will be like Brokeded's and all the behind-the-scenes scrutiny will result in a UST no-show at your 341 and 60 days of silence.

[jetsfan2010]

so to verify 25 percent of DMI is the magic number so to speak?

[debee]

so to verify 25 percent of DMI is the magic number so to speak?

Yes, 25% of nonpriority, unsecured. If the DMI is in the range of $117.xx - $195 and it is not enough to pay 25%, you can rebut any motion to dismiss/convert. If the DMI is $195.40 or more, forget about it. You're a 13. No rebuttal.

eta: It might be 195.41 or 195.47, etc. I forget.

[karm43]

Thanks for all the info!!!! I am gonna be over medium but with mort 2 cars and student loan and allowables i have about 20 dollars i was actually thinking this does not look good will they believe me. Don't even have to make it up. lol

[jeep75]

So a "we got a raise but our insurance went up" type of scenario at the 341?

The numbers I proposed on the Sched J were neg 200 or so and were still not over the federal standards except gas, our attorney wanted to show at least something on the positive side. I think they are pretty unassailable.

[debee]

So a "we got a raise but our insurance went up" type of scenario at the 341?

The numbers I proposed on the Sched J were neg 200 or so and were still not over the federal standards except gas, our attorney wanted to show at least something on the positive side. I think they are pretty unassailable.

Yes. That's what I was thinking. If you were stressed about it, or needed to get the number down, it's an option. You could call the attorney with a change in one of your expenses & the raise info. Let him decide whether to announce both at the 341, or amend on the expense now and add the income later. But only as an option if you (or your attorney) thought it was necessary.