Hi everyone! So I have a dilemma, and I’m trying to figure out the best thing to do. It’s been on my mind quite a bit, and in fact, the only positive thing is that I’ve been able to lose weight because I don’t have much of an appetite.
I was a person who always paid the bills, but unfortunately, my divorce left me with absolutely nothing. I began to rack up my cards in order to provide for myself and my kids. Everything spiraled out of control and I could only keep up with half of my payments, most of those being things like my student loans, Car and rent and a few of the credit cards.
Then, in 2021 I was sued by a junk debt buyer who bought one of my past due credit card accounts. Realizing that I was behind on numerous other things, and now had this suit brought against me, I knew I had to file for bankruptcy. Unfortunately, I have two jobs and with them together I was above the chapter 7 median for my area, (in hindsight, the attorney I had at the time didn’t do me any service because she didn’t factor in correctly the alimony I have to pay my ex-husband—as it fluctuates month-to-month based on expenses and the average she took was about $700 to $800 off what it is for most of the year).
Also, for the second job I have, I am only paid eight months out of the year so for the four months that I don’t receive a paycheck from that job life was very hard to sustain the Ch13.
I got where I was not able to pay my ex-husband so he started threatening me with legal action and then on top of it , I was doing without food so that my kids would have what they needed. I asked my attorney to convert my 13 to a seven and she said I would not qualify. I asked her then to file a motion to move my payments for six months, postpone or whatever she could do so that I can do something to get on my feet. She told me that she could help me but that she would need a $2000 retainer which, of course I didn’t have that.
Ultimately, she said that she could voluntarily dismiss my case, and that most of my creditors probably wouldn’t come after me anyway because the debt was so old. Told me to take the months after the dismissal to save up money that way I could prepare to file again if I needed to.
Well, it’s been about eight months since the dismissal and I started to think there’s no guarantee none of these people will leave me alone, and I would much rather have the peace of mind knowing that things were properly handled. I was able to get caught up with my ex-husband, so I began to save in order to file again.
Found a new attorney who acknowledged I am over the chapter 7 median, but also pointed out that my medical expenses, child care expenses, and alimony expenses qualify me for a seven.
A few days after this I get a summons in the mail. Now let me just say I find it weird that I was served in the mail and not in person. In Virginia we call those warrants in debt and I received this one for $1800, for a medical debt. The reason I didn’t pay this one originally is it was incurred while I was in the chapter 13, so the creditor would not accept any payments from me except voluntary ones.
After the dismissal, I set up a payment plan with them, but they canceled it and said that I did not qualify and that the total amount was due. After that, I received a letter saying they turned it over to a collection agency and heard nothing else. Then I received the notice of suit from their attorney. I’m not quite sure how it got from the collection agency to the attorney, but it did.
I immediately contacted my new bankruptcy attorney, and he told me that since I just quit my second job (it was causing me to owe high federal taxes each year and my kids’ schedules don’t allow for it) that I would need to wait a couple of months before I can file in order to get the seven, because otherwise it would have to be 13 since both jobs would be counted if I file now. The problem with waiting is now I have the suit….. I mentioned it to my attorney, who said the firm would go to the hearing on my behalf and ask for a trial. I suggested that since I have to wait to file, why don’t I just pay the medical debt off and avoid the hearing and trial setting altogether? I also don’t understand why I can’t just go ahead and file for the seven because I no longer have that job and can prove it. I don’t see how the income can be counted when it is no longer an income for me.
The other thing concerning me is that this is the second time I would be filing and it’s under a year. My attorney assured me that we can ask for an extension of the automatic stay, but I don’t know how those work. My 13 was voluntarily dismissed after a year, and it was dismissed without any prejudice against me. I just don’t know if it’s best to wait to file and attempt to get a trial for the suit - or just pay them off and get the suit dropped…. or do I try and file before the suit?
Thank you guys for any advice 😊
Bankruptcy Wizard
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