Holdout factor, and Chapter 7 quickie?

[Mark80]

I know I touched off on this before, but I am full into the thick of things now. All my creditors are now passed 30 days and the calls have flooded in. I have my home phone set on privacy and I keep declining to speak to all of them at my office.

I know I will be filing no matter what in the next month or so, but I have had some suggestions (from here mostly) that I should hold out as long as I can since my wages have decreased.

I cut back my hours by 5 OT a week to try and get me in a better position to file. That makes my yearly gross income drop about 9,100. Which puts me under 70k a year. My question is, to qualify for Chapter 7 with a family of 5 how low do I need to go to qualify?

My wife is a state at home mom / college student. We get around 270 bucks a month in child support for my stepdaughter who lives with me 12 months a year. And with the birth of my next child due anytime from now until sep 19th we will then have a family of 5 like I said.

Just wondering if their is a hard income level to get under, and how many hours I need to trim off to get there? (then hope I can make it for 6 months before I get my wages garnished etc.)

My Attorney was vague with his calculations and I can't afford to pay him anything yet to find out more!

Thanks for any help, I figure if its near impossible to qualify for chapter 7 I might need to just file next month and go 13 to get it all taken care of.

[AngelinaCatHub]

I am sorry not to be able to help you. I saw something on the Internet searching for my info that could have helped you. Old age I guess, but it was a grid that stated all states means of income et. al.

So sorry, but someone here better knowleged will help. I shall look around for you too. 'Hub

[chloe0724]

As far I as know, it's all about the means test. If you pass it, then you qualify for a 7. It seems like with that large of a family, you should have no problem qualifing.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

It varies from state to state as to what is the median. There is a means test calculator at

http://www.legalconsumer.com/bankruptcy/means-test/.

I don't know if that will work as a link - if not maybe some computer savvy person can fix it!

It worked! Yayy!

[Frogge]

Mark - look up your state on the legalconsumer website and it tells what median is for family of 5. As for the income, 6 month average look back is: adding all sources of income you earned/took in over the previous 6 month period before filing, and divide by 6 for the average.. if under the median, great - if not, means test = average expenses over the same 6 month period.

Depends on your state/district if it's federal or local guidelines.
More folks can chime in here too, but that's the way I understand it.

[becky20]

You need to figure out what your last 6 months income was, and then divide by 6 to get monthly income. Is the 70K per year for a family of 4 or family of 5? How close are you to the median income? If you're pretty close, I think you should try to get another meeting with your attorney to go over expenses. We're a family of 3, were SIGNIFICANTLY over the median income (like 15K or more) but with all our expenses, we qualified for a 7, so just because you're over the median doesn't mean you automatically are stuck in a 13.

We waited over a year before we filed and were just starting to get served with judgements (we filed in the nick of time). I would think though that you would need to wait til at least the baby is born so you're officially a family of 5 to benefit you in the means test.

congrats on the baby!!

[Mark80]

I appreciate all the responses!

Becky it sounds like you guys did kind of what I am trying to do. Hold off for the longest period possible to get into a better position to file!

I have already asked in another thread how long I could do this for, at least a guess. People told me for the most part it takes months for things to hit collection, then another few months for the collectors to file judgements. So I am guessing as long as your ready to pull the trigger when the first judgement hits you can save yourself?

I am going to search out the median income for Missouri. I will be a family of 5when I file. (thanks for the grats on the baby, he is due any time now!)

Obviously getting a Chapter 7 is a godsend, expecially for us because I am stuck in a ARM LOAN that is set to expire next fall. Which means even if I am put into a payment plan other factors will crash into me eventually and make things tough. If I can lower my wages over a six month period just to squeeze into a Chapter 7 I would do my best to make it. Although its hard obviously, since I am still behind on things and trying to catch up with much less income atm.

My attorney wasn't to clear on if I could qualify or not, and I can't get any more help out of him without paying at least half of the fee, which of course I don't have atm. So I am sitting here wondering if I should just work as much as possible to pay him, or slow down to gear up for a better shot at Chap 7.

I think he said median for a family of 5 was 72k a year and I made 79k a year. But then we get 69 a week in child support.

79k + 3,588 = 82,588 Yearly

I dropped 5 hours of OT off my checks for going on 1 month now so now I make,

-9,750 less or 72,838 Yearly

Hoping this is enough, of course if Becky was 15k over before the means test I might still have hope!


Going to go take the test and update my post, I really appreciate everyones help, your making me feel much better today!

Ok I got some information off the Legal Consumer Site and had a few questions:

I noticed this:

Does this mean that the child support we get will not count against my total income? Or does it just mean thats how much your allowed to get up to without the court taking it?

Ok I found this on Median income:

For Missouri, for cases filed after February 1, 2008, the median income for a single wage earner is $37,747; for a family of two, it is $48,944; for three, $56,478; and for four, $65,076. Add $6,900 for each individual in excess of 4.

71,976 seems to be my magic number for 5.


Ok I took the means test, I own two cars but only make payments on one. It did a weird calculation for them I didn't understand. It put a amount for each then deducted from one my payment. Is this just how much you are allowed to pay on each vehicle?

Anyhow, If I would of had more debt things would of been easier! But at the moment just a few hours a week more or less causes me to jump around qualifying. I am wondering if I can get a full 6 months of less pay or if judgement will hit me before then. One month short and my average will tip just over and all this will be for nothing.

[Cali]

You can still be over the median and file C7. I was over the median by 23k.

[Mark80]

Thats really crazy, I mean the test simply says I do not qualify for chapter 7 unless I get my means to be below the median. Which means curbing my pay, holding out for 6 months etc. It notes when i go above the line it would be fraudulant.

So how did you guys pull off getting a chapter 7 even with being so high above the median "after" the means if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks!