My hearing is coming up soon - nervous

[heartheart]

I filed Ch 7 back in the fall (I'm married but filed separately). The 341 went fine, determined to be a no asset case. It's a little complicated because I moved shortly before filing to another state. I did this because I mistakenly thought that the median income used would be that of the state you file in, not of your current residence. I was well under the median in the state of filing, but over the median in the state I now live in. I wish my lawyer had explained this to me more clearly but it's too late now. At any rate, I passed the means test - about $-1500.

Or so we thought - the trustee objected to the use of the marital adjustment in including my husband's gambling expenses (as well as a number of other expenses - they felt that $100 a month for babysitting was "excessive," did not think I should be allowed to deduct my husband's credit card payments, that his $40 a month gym membership is an "excessive luxury", among others). So they filed a motion to dismiss, my attorney filed an objection, and now it goes before the judge.

If the judge dismisses it, I'm through. My only option is to divorce my husband and refile (in which case I will easily pass the means test as my current income is $0). Or, I can just stick it out for years until the statute of limitations runs out on my debts, which pretty much destroys my dream of getting back on my feet financially, being able to buy a house someday, etc. I have close to $90,000 in debt and there's no possible way I can pay it back.

Anyone have any words of wisdom for me? I'd love to hear stories from others who have gone through this (and hopefully came out well on the other end!).

[MSbklawyer]

There's no way to give you any reassurance without knowing more details about your facts and your judge. My judge would probably take a pretty dim view of the gambling expenses, but $100 per month for babysitting and $40 for a gym I think would be found to be entirely reasonable. But I think your lawyer has done a good job by staking out an aggressive position and then arguing with the trustee from there.

Also, you don't have to divorce your husband to avoid counting his income. You just have to be living in separate households. See 11 USC 707(b)(7)(B).

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/707

The separation has to be bona fide, and not for the purpose of evading the requirement of counting his income.

[heartheart]

There's no way to give you any reassurance without knowing more details about your facts and your judge. My judge would probably take a pretty dim view of the gambling expenses, but $100 per month for babysitting and $40 for a gym I think would be found to be entirely reasonable. But I think your lawyer has done a good job by staking out an aggressive position and then arguing with the trustee from there.

Also, you don't have to divorce your husband to avoid counting his income. You just have to be living in separate households. See 11 USC 707(b)(7)(B).

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/707

The separation has to be bona fide, and not for the purpose of evading the requirement of counting his income.

Thanks! As far as the gambling expenses, it seems to me that the money going towards his gambling problem is not money that is "regularly contributed to household expenses" and this would qualify for the marital adjustment regardless if whether its an expense that he "should" have or not. It's his income, he spends it on this, (very unfortunately) I have no control over him doing so (unless, as above, I divorce him) and thus its not available to me to pay my debts with. But I don't know if a judge would see it that way or not.

Still no word from my lawyer on anything . Would the results of a hearing like this show up on Pacer?

[justbroke]

Yes, the hearing results are in PACER usually within a day. You may see a Pro Memo docket entry. It typically contains cryptic notes of what happened at a hearing (if the hearing resulted in a ruling).

[heartheart]

From what I see on Pacer, it look like the hearing has been continued until the summer. More months of limbo and I still haven't heard back from my attorney which I am not really happy about. This is a terribly anxiety- inducing process and a little reassurance from him would go a long way.

[heartheart]

Just wanted to update (after all these months). The UST finally decided to drop their objections and I should be getting my discharge shortly!

[justbroke]

Wow, that took some time. It's nice to read that the Trustee has seen the light!

[Pjmax]

That's great news, thanks for updating.

Do you have a plan for moving forward financially?

[AngelinaCat]

Congratulations! I look forward to seeing your Discharge notice. Your Hamster Troupe is in rehearsals!