Form B22A

[manglicmot]

I just filled out the B22A simulation form at legalconsumer.com. Here was my answer:

Bottom Line
Based on the information you have entered so far, you qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy because your income is below the state median income for a household your size.

Your average monthly income is $3,172 and you have entered allowed deductions totaling $3,155 per month. That would leave you with $17 at the end of each month to pay into a hypothetical, five-year Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan. This would pay your unsecured creditors $1,001 over the next five years.

OK, first of all, *I* did not enter the allowed deductions, so the web site must have done it for me. *SO*, that leaves me with this question - Will my attorney give me those deductions automatically just like that website did? It looks to me like it allowed the full $471 for vehicle ownership expenses, my car payment is actually $363. My point and my concern is that I want to re-affirm my car loan. Will the trustee refuse to allow me to reaffirm, thus forcing me to surrender my car?

Also, on line 13 of form B22A my annualized current monthly income is $38,060. Line 14 Applicable median family income is $44,499. So I check the box on line 15 that says "complete Part VIII; do not complete Parts IV, V, VI, or VII." I have been under the assumption that everyone is filling out all of those parts regardless of income, whether you are above or below the median. That assumption appears incorrect though. Did anyone here have to fill out the complete form even though you were below the median? If so, why? Did your attorney force you to do it, or did the trustee force you to do it?

[SinkingFast]

Our attny didn't complete B22A.

Our income was below the Median. Our attny got to Lines 13 and 14, did the Earned Income to Median comparison. Checked the Box on Line 15, "Presumption does Not Arise" and that was it.

I think the only people who completely fill out B22A are people who are over the Median, but have expenses that would allow them to qualify to file Ch 7.

If you're below the Median, whether or not you're allowed Ch 7 will come down to a comparison of Schedule I, actual earned Income, to Schedule J, your actual living expenses.

Edited to add,................

So far, we haven't had anyone post that they were below the Median and were forced into Ch 13. The only people we've heard from who were below the Median and went Ch 13, did so voluntarily. They wanted to save their house, or owed back taxes, or whatever other reason they had.

[Granny]

Same thing for me. We were below the median income and the attorney stopped at Part III and did not complete Parts IV-VI. I could have qualified for Chapter 7 but took Chapter 13 to save our house. The attorney used the income on Form B22 to Complete Schedule I. The amounts he used on Schedule J however, were no where near the amounts allowed for the IRS standards, they were significantly below the standards. He did this so that we could qualify for the Chapter 13 and allow us to keep our house and other secured property that we wanted to keep.

He cut the expenses on Schedule J so much that the Trustee questioned the feasibility of my plan. This was addressed at the 341 meeting and was approved because my car would be paid off in 3 months, which would allow additional cash to cover the expenses that had been cut too low. It was blantantly obvious that the expenses were understated, but you put on paper what it takes to make it work (without EVER overstating, that's fraud).

[BKTango]

Our attorney did the same thing, stopped at the point of being below the median and checked the "presumption of abuse does not arise" box.

I actually did the full means test online, at the same website, using our actual living expenses just to kinda see how much we did in fact have left over a month. It matched our actual schedules pretty closely. I think that's the only reason people who are below the median mght fill it out themselves, it's usually done before they or their attorney do the schedules just to answer the question "how much do I have left over if any?". It is by no means required for you to fill it out if you are below the median.

[BKOnce]

Up to trustee. He make final decision/approval of any adjustment/form/proposal/plan submitted to him.