Marriage & filing single

[cl2938592]

My gf and I are planning to marry later this year, but she is planning to ch7 in the coming month, and I was wondering if there is any concerns about marrying before or after the bk. She shouldn't have any problem qualifying for a no-means test ch7 now. We live together so the paperwork was going to reflect me financially like a roommate. Is marriage going to change that, or would it affect her income on paper? The debts are solely in her name and several years old so no mutual debt issues. Just the shared expenses where we live which wouldn't be included as the utilities are in my name. Will marriage change the calculation of expenses as far as her means test/paperwork would go?

[justbroke]

Marriage would change calculations. Instead of just "contributing" to the household, both incomes would be added together (Columns A and B on the Means Test) to come up with the household income. Right now, she only claims the amount that contribute to the household. When married, both incomes count even if you file single. The nice thing about filing single, is that you could still claim an "offset" of the non-filing spouses debts. I don't know if that receives more scrutiny, but if your combined income puts you over the median for a 2-member household, that could lead to some scrutiny -- of the non-filing (non-debtor) spouse's and your -- income and expenses.

The best thing to do? Consult with a few attorneys and see what the difference is with running the numbers either way. I would personally like to just say... why increase any frustrations? Just get through your personal bankruptcy and then get married. That way you won't have any un-warranted stress.

[Pjmax]

This is just my personal experience, I'm not in any position to give legal advice. I filed C7 in August. My roommate owns the house, and I pay him rent. I didn't have to account for him in any way on my filing papers, other than my rent amount. We are not BF/GF, no plans to marry, but I was not questioned on this at all. We've been sharing the house for over 12 years, and even though he has his money and I have mine, a lot of household expenses, food pet care, etc. are shared and we don't really keep track of who pays what, it just kind of works out. I pretty much pay everything I pay by debit card, so it was fairly easy to itemize my household expenses.

If I were in your GF's position, I would want to start off the marriage with a clean slate. Why complicate things? It'll be a fresh start in 3 mos. from filing.

...and best wishes to you both!