What not to do after filing and before 341

[sunshinepa]

You got a good amount of great advice. To add to it, my attorney advised me to be very careful how I spent money. I was an "under median income" filer however, without paying my cc payments, there is some disposable income which was apparent after I filed. Reason........attorney put my expenses as reasonable even though I thought they were high and objected. His comment was that our trustees expect reasonable living expenses. He did however caution me to use that money for things like groceries, staples and etc. both before and after the 341 and until discharge as bank statements could be asked for right up to discharge (unlikely but possible). It worked out for me but I was one of the very lucky ones, it could have been a Chapter 13 with another attorney for sure. I made sure my bank statements had nothing unusual at all until I got my official paperwork.

As others stated, be careful and try to save for a rainy day. Once you are discharged, how you spend your paychecks is no longer an issue, but until then my advice would be to stock up on staples, do any repairs or get any medical care that may have been ignored. Spend wisely until you have the official paperwork, then do what you want.

It might also be worth noting that each person here has been through BK for many different reasons but it is a serious step and it's not something that I believe anyone here has and/or is taking lightly. Remember you won't have those credit cards to fall back on, you must adopt a different lifestyle, it takes dedication and effort. If one isn't careful, they can easily end up filing again, evidence of that has been on this board before. Your goal should be to have a smooth BK and then learn to survive without those cards.

[LadyInTheRed]

Do you understand that when you file Ch 7 that you are no longer the "owner" of your property? That the Trustee opens an estate that consists of everything you own? That they are in absolute control of everything you own, including "your" paycheck?

This is not true. With very few exceptions, The bankruptcy estate consists of property you owned as of the commencement of the case. The estate is defined at 11 USC 541

Note subparagraph (a)(6) talks about income from the property of the estate being part of the estate, but not income for the services of the debtor after the case is filed:

(6) Proceeds, product, offspring, rents, or profits of or from property of the estate, except such as are earnings from services performed by an individual debtor after the commencement of the case.

Even if the income is not part of the BK estate, Sunshinepa explains well while it is still a good idea to watch your spending. But a some of that may not be applicable to a non-consumer case.