Wait or not to wait

[smiles2007]

Hi we are in a dilemma here...my husband and I both work and were are considering filing. We met with a lawyer and he said most likely chapter 13 based on what we make. We have a child that our families watch while we work so childcare is free. The dilemma is that we might lose the free childcare. I have the option of taking a lesser paying job (waitress) and staying home with my child or stay at my 9-5 job and pay for daycare (which isnt really an option because childcare is ridiculously expensive, I make 400 a week and that's roughly what it costs.)
So, if I do switch jobs, should I wait a few months and then declare so we qualify for 7? Or will they think I'm frauding them?
Or declare 13 then switch to 7?
Can you retain a lawyer and wait to declare?

Thanks

[keepmine]

Nothing fraudulent in pre planning your bk. You won't be the first person who took a lower paying job or refused OT in order to qualify for a Chapter 7.
You may retain an attorney and file when the time is right.

[smiles2007]

thank you, I have another question. We have stopped paying our credit cards because as of right now we just cant afford to and we are trying to play catch-up with our bank. We were using overdraft to pay and now we are very negative in our checking accounts. When we get paid every two weeks, half our checks are gone because of overdraft. How long can you go without paying your credit cards before they start to sue you? It's not like we arent paying them because we just dont want to, we cant afford to.

[zpbk13]

I think it varies. We have not made a payment on a credit card since January of this year and our attorney will file our bk papers with the court on August 18 so we have gone longer than I thought we could without being sued.

[klandsb]

I went from last Sept (2008) up unitl last mth July (2009) before I got sued and currently dragging that out another 30days in hopes of filing the first week of August. Have my fingers crossed !!!!!!!!

[keepmine]

You'll have months if not years before you get sued-if ever.
Don't sweat any potential lawsuit/judgment. The underlying debt will be discharged in bk.

[liz417]

It's very important to plan your bk, otherwise you'll get stuck in a repayment plan you can't afford. What's the use of working your 9-5 job when all your income will go to child care?!? Take the p/t job and wait 6 months so the look back period will actually reflect your current income. I stopped paying my creditors 1 year before I filed and was never sued...it all depends....

Good Luck to you

[smiles2007]

Should I retain a lawyer now or wait? If I take a p/t waitressing job how do I account for my tips, do I have to claim all my tips? If we fall under the median do we automatically qualify for chapter 7?

[Dagg25]

i agree with smiles2007..........

[zpbk13]

As to whether to retain a lawyer now or wait, we started to get collection calls almost immediately from our creditors when we stopped paying. Once we retained our attorney, she told us to give the creditors her phone number. It was worth retaining her for that service alone. Just something to think about.

[Kpower]

We originally consulted an attorney in March of this year. After looking at our situation he said we would probably be pushed into a 13 if we filed then. He told us to wait to file since my wife had gone part time to take care of the kids like you are contemplating. After 6 months of part time we would be eligible for a ch 7. In the meantime my wife was not convinced we needed to file so she kept paying some of the bills and took money from her 401k to pay the mortgage while she was on maternity leave in May/June. When that money was gone she finally agreed with me that there was no other way. Our bills exceeded our income period. We consulted a different lawyer since she didn't like the first one and he told us that if we were going to file we should give up our house and that we should get an apt. so we did and we have used the difference between the mortgage and rent to fund the move and the lawyers fees. We will have him paid this week and plan on filing very soon.

[Kpower]

On another note I know where you are coming from on child care, it is insanely expensive. We interviewed several places and finally found what we thought was a good one but they did not respect our wishes on how we wanted our son treated. We finally took him out of there and placed him with a different in home sitter after interviewing a dozen or so and that turned out to be just as bad. Finally since my wife was pregnant again we decided to take him out of daycare and she accepted a position with her firm that was part time so she could stay home and take care of them during the day. This cut her salary in half and our total income by 25% but the peace of mind is worth it. We would not have been able to afford 2 kids in daycare since it would run over 400 a week especially since they are so young.