Well, I survived our consult appt this morning. However, I am feeling very confused since going and even more worried.
Can someone clarify the issue for me regarding qualifying for a Chapter 7 related to income? My understanding was that we could apply for a BK7 without an automatic presumption of abuse if our income was below our state's median income. So, assuming we were to file this month, I added up our income for Aug-Jan (past 6 months) and got approx $65K. The old median income number for a 4 person household in PA (we have 2 kids) was $68K and as of 2/1/07 went to $70K. This attorney said there is no way we could qualify for a BK7 due to our income being too high.
When I asked him to try to qualify my understanding of the median income issue, he said we can't use just a number for our state as we live in a lower cost area of our state, so the numbers here are lower. He (and his BK paralegal) explained we have to use local numbers. I told them that I understood we needed to use local numbers for the second part of the means test, but I didn't realize there were median income numbers other than by state for the first part of the test.
As I understood it, because we were under the median, we didn't need to do the second part of the means test.
Am I incorrect in my understanding? If so, can anyone direct me to the local numbers in PA I should be using for median income?
So, he told us there is no way we would qualify for a BK7, it will need to be a BK13. That threw me for a loop. He also said we would never qualify for the BK7 due to our high amount of consumer debt - just over $100K. I understood that because it is so huge, we would be more closely scrutinized and while that unnerved me, it didn't worry me as this debt has been building for years and we don't have anything to hide. Some poor decisions for sure, but nothing we are hiding. I just didn't know that would automatically disqualify us for a BK7. (House is current, cars are paid for).
Can anyone shed any light on this for me? I thought I had a basic understanding and now I feel like an idiot.
I didn't feel a great connection to him, although he was nice enough. I felt like he seemed to feel like my dh should have been answering the questions rather than me but dh said he didn't pick up that vibe. Given the hours dh works, I will be handling most of the communications, etc so this left me feeling a little off. Oh, he also told me to stop taking notes. I guess I was irritating him, but I prefer to write things down so I remember them.
Of concern to me also, was that the waiting room is right off of a room the BK paralegal was working in (which is the reception area). She was reviewing case info with him and making calls, etc. Without trying to listen, we could clearly hear her conversations with clients names used and dollar amounts, etc. Ex. "Mr. XXXX, the trustee wants a listing of what you spent the $17K on." Made me really uncomfortable. I realize that bankruptcies are public record, etc but it just seemed so casual with the info. I hope I am not being too sensitive about all this.
So, we have appt scheduled with another attorney next week and may try to set up another one. I just want to be more sure of my knowledge before the next appt.
Thanks for any info you can share!
reallynervous
Can someone clarify the issue for me regarding qualifying for a Chapter 7 related to income? My understanding was that we could apply for a BK7 without an automatic presumption of abuse if our income was below our state's median income. So, assuming we were to file this month, I added up our income for Aug-Jan (past 6 months) and got approx $65K. The old median income number for a 4 person household in PA (we have 2 kids) was $68K and as of 2/1/07 went to $70K. This attorney said there is no way we could qualify for a BK7 due to our income being too high.
When I asked him to try to qualify my understanding of the median income issue, he said we can't use just a number for our state as we live in a lower cost area of our state, so the numbers here are lower. He (and his BK paralegal) explained we have to use local numbers. I told them that I understood we needed to use local numbers for the second part of the means test, but I didn't realize there were median income numbers other than by state for the first part of the test.
As I understood it, because we were under the median, we didn't need to do the second part of the means test.
Am I incorrect in my understanding? If so, can anyone direct me to the local numbers in PA I should be using for median income?
So, he told us there is no way we would qualify for a BK7, it will need to be a BK13. That threw me for a loop. He also said we would never qualify for the BK7 due to our high amount of consumer debt - just over $100K. I understood that because it is so huge, we would be more closely scrutinized and while that unnerved me, it didn't worry me as this debt has been building for years and we don't have anything to hide. Some poor decisions for sure, but nothing we are hiding. I just didn't know that would automatically disqualify us for a BK7. (House is current, cars are paid for).
Can anyone shed any light on this for me? I thought I had a basic understanding and now I feel like an idiot.
I didn't feel a great connection to him, although he was nice enough. I felt like he seemed to feel like my dh should have been answering the questions rather than me but dh said he didn't pick up that vibe. Given the hours dh works, I will be handling most of the communications, etc so this left me feeling a little off. Oh, he also told me to stop taking notes. I guess I was irritating him, but I prefer to write things down so I remember them.
Of concern to me also, was that the waiting room is right off of a room the BK paralegal was working in (which is the reception area). She was reviewing case info with him and making calls, etc. Without trying to listen, we could clearly hear her conversations with clients names used and dollar amounts, etc. Ex. "Mr. XXXX, the trustee wants a listing of what you spent the $17K on." Made me really uncomfortable. I realize that bankruptcies are public record, etc but it just seemed so casual with the info. I hope I am not being too sensitive about all this.
So, we have appt scheduled with another attorney next week and may try to set up another one. I just want to be more sure of my knowledge before the next appt.
Thanks for any info you can share!
reallynervous
Comment