Made my first post last night and I am sure glad I found this forum. I have been reading for months and have learned alot so far. I am currently searching for a lawyer to help with my situation. Below is an email that I drafted to aid in my search. If anyone here can help with any of this questions, I would appreciate any feed back!
Our story is pretty simple....we lived above our means and I lost my job. We have never made a late payment and the thought of going through this process is hard to digest, although I know we are not alone. At this point I really am not attached to anything we have and am looking to get on the path of living with-in our means.
I am searching for someone to help us through the BK process. We are probably not what you consider a typical case, mostly because my wife and I both make over the median income in Missouri. I have being doing lots of research for the last 2 months, so I have a general understanding of how a 7 & 13 work respectively.
We are not interested in doing anything fradulent (not that you would allow that anyway) but we want to strategically plan our BK. Below I will lay out some of our situation and if you think you may be able to assist I will schedule an appointment. I am hoping this email will save both of us some time.
Long story short... I was laid off for 4 months earlier this year. When I went back to work, I took a pay cut (20K) and we blew threw all of our savings and assets while I was laid off. We are presently current on everything, but have nothing to live on or save, not to mention any major expense right now would be devasting. Everything we have has depriciated and we are upside down on 3 cars and our house. I am not trying to save anything except for our household items and will need 2 vehicles for transportation.
My current job situation is not good. There is a very good chance I will have my position elliminated anyday with-in the next 6 months. In addition to that, the current economy has made my job unbearable - lots of hours = high stress and impossible to manage. If I change careers, I will take a drastic pay cut (most likely 50%), which is why we are trying to fit into a chapter 7 and start over.
Our current income is about 132K a year (I make 72K and the wife makes 60K). I realize that she is over the median income (49K) on her own, but I think we may still qualify for a 7 if we can make it 6 months on her income.
Here are my primary questions:
1. Is it considered fraud if I quit my job because of the lack of security and stress level? Or do I have to be termintated from my position?
2. We need to surender our house, but plan to stay in it as long as we can. How long does the foreclosure process take in this area? I've heard everything from 6 to 18 months?
3. How long can we hold the creditors off before being sued or incurring any legal issues before the BK? We are current now, is it possible to hold them off for 6 months, so my previous income is not held against us? Will this raise any red flags? We need to free up cash to pay attourney fees, car maintence items, etc. and need to prepare to live on cash and not credit moving forward.
4. When calculating the means test, since we are not keeping our house, do you just plug in the IRS allowance for rent, utilities, etc. for the county you intend to live in?
5. How much time does it typically take you to verify whether or not someone qualifies for chapter 7? Is this something that is included in your initial consult or do we have to retain your services to get that answer? If so what are the fees associated with finding out if we even qualify?
Here is some more info about our situation:
unsecured debt = 80K ($1400 monthly)
mortgage = 320K ($2850 monthly) value 260k ish
car 1 = owe 20K ($420 month) value 14K
car 2 = owe 13K ($300 month) value 8K
truck = owe 11K (389 month) value 10K
car trailer = owe 13K ($225 month) value? 10K maybe?
4 wheeler = owe 7K ($195 month) value 6k-7k?
The other $1600 a month that we have left covers the utilities, food, gas, and personal items. Currently we have absolutely no disposable income and most months are using credit cards for a tank of gas or a cheap trip to the grocery store to get us to pay day.
I am prepared to walk away from my current job if it enables me to statigically plan my BK, it's just a matter of time before I lose it anyway. At this time we are not interested in doing a chapter 13. If a chapter 7 is not doable. then we will wait until I change jobs. I appreciate your time and I am not looking for a hand out. If you think you can work us into a chapter 7, I have no issue paying for your services. Hopefully this email will save us both some time and money.
That is what I sent to several lawyers and am waiting for a response. If anyone here has any suggestions or non-fradulent moves we can make to make this transition easier, especially anyhting we can do in our power to improve our chances of qualifying for a chapter 7 or any other advise we would be very thankful. I'm going to try and run the means test again but I'm not confident I am completing it correctly.
Thanks for reading about our nightmare, lol. We have already accepted the fact that we need to file and this forum has aided greatly in keeping us sane.
Our story is pretty simple....we lived above our means and I lost my job. We have never made a late payment and the thought of going through this process is hard to digest, although I know we are not alone. At this point I really am not attached to anything we have and am looking to get on the path of living with-in our means.
I am searching for someone to help us through the BK process. We are probably not what you consider a typical case, mostly because my wife and I both make over the median income in Missouri. I have being doing lots of research for the last 2 months, so I have a general understanding of how a 7 & 13 work respectively.
We are not interested in doing anything fradulent (not that you would allow that anyway) but we want to strategically plan our BK. Below I will lay out some of our situation and if you think you may be able to assist I will schedule an appointment. I am hoping this email will save both of us some time.
Long story short... I was laid off for 4 months earlier this year. When I went back to work, I took a pay cut (20K) and we blew threw all of our savings and assets while I was laid off. We are presently current on everything, but have nothing to live on or save, not to mention any major expense right now would be devasting. Everything we have has depriciated and we are upside down on 3 cars and our house. I am not trying to save anything except for our household items and will need 2 vehicles for transportation.
My current job situation is not good. There is a very good chance I will have my position elliminated anyday with-in the next 6 months. In addition to that, the current economy has made my job unbearable - lots of hours = high stress and impossible to manage. If I change careers, I will take a drastic pay cut (most likely 50%), which is why we are trying to fit into a chapter 7 and start over.
Our current income is about 132K a year (I make 72K and the wife makes 60K). I realize that she is over the median income (49K) on her own, but I think we may still qualify for a 7 if we can make it 6 months on her income.
Here are my primary questions:
1. Is it considered fraud if I quit my job because of the lack of security and stress level? Or do I have to be termintated from my position?
2. We need to surender our house, but plan to stay in it as long as we can. How long does the foreclosure process take in this area? I've heard everything from 6 to 18 months?
3. How long can we hold the creditors off before being sued or incurring any legal issues before the BK? We are current now, is it possible to hold them off for 6 months, so my previous income is not held against us? Will this raise any red flags? We need to free up cash to pay attourney fees, car maintence items, etc. and need to prepare to live on cash and not credit moving forward.
4. When calculating the means test, since we are not keeping our house, do you just plug in the IRS allowance for rent, utilities, etc. for the county you intend to live in?
5. How much time does it typically take you to verify whether or not someone qualifies for chapter 7? Is this something that is included in your initial consult or do we have to retain your services to get that answer? If so what are the fees associated with finding out if we even qualify?
Here is some more info about our situation:
unsecured debt = 80K ($1400 monthly)
mortgage = 320K ($2850 monthly) value 260k ish
car 1 = owe 20K ($420 month) value 14K
car 2 = owe 13K ($300 month) value 8K
truck = owe 11K (389 month) value 10K
car trailer = owe 13K ($225 month) value? 10K maybe?
4 wheeler = owe 7K ($195 month) value 6k-7k?
The other $1600 a month that we have left covers the utilities, food, gas, and personal items. Currently we have absolutely no disposable income and most months are using credit cards for a tank of gas or a cheap trip to the grocery store to get us to pay day.
I am prepared to walk away from my current job if it enables me to statigically plan my BK, it's just a matter of time before I lose it anyway. At this time we are not interested in doing a chapter 13. If a chapter 7 is not doable. then we will wait until I change jobs. I appreciate your time and I am not looking for a hand out. If you think you can work us into a chapter 7, I have no issue paying for your services. Hopefully this email will save us both some time and money.
That is what I sent to several lawyers and am waiting for a response. If anyone here has any suggestions or non-fradulent moves we can make to make this transition easier, especially anyhting we can do in our power to improve our chances of qualifying for a chapter 7 or any other advise we would be very thankful. I'm going to try and run the means test again but I'm not confident I am completing it correctly.
Thanks for reading about our nightmare, lol. We have already accepted the fact that we need to file and this forum has aided greatly in keeping us sane.
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