This has been such a painful journey

[bongars]

Once me and husband finally surrendered and decided to file bankruptcy, I thought ok that's the hardest part. Wow, was I wrong. We went to our attorney and we weren't sure if we would qualify for a chapter 7. We did our means test and indeed we did qualify for a chapter 7. Great, let's just get this over with. Filed on Nov 22, had our meeting of creditors on Dec 29, not as traumatic as I thought it would be. Then the problems started. We had filed 3 people in household on our means test, we have our niece living with us and support her, our attorney said that was fine to do. Well, we don't claim her on our taxes and the trustee said we couldn't claim her. We either had to file an amendment to our paperwork or a file tax fraud case. Fine, we filed our amended paperwork and our lawyer said we were still a green light for chapter 7. Then the presumption of abuse letter came, lawyer said not to worry. Letter stating we no longer a no asset chapter 7 and proof of claim for creditors arrived. Talked to attorney, still he said not to worry. Today, received letter with a motion to dismiss chapter 7 or convert came, ugh. I don't mind doing a chapter 13 but if they are taking all of my dmi, there is just no way we can afford it. We do support our niece and that does take a lot of money, which the court refuses to acknowledge. The court says we have $600 dmi, hmph, yeah right. I am just about at the end of my rope. So I'm not sure if I need to get a different lawyer or really what to do at this point. Any suggestions?

[Pandora]

Is there a particular reason you aren't claiming your niece if you support her and she lives there? Adult or minor?

[bongars]

The reasons we don't claim her are complicated but her mother feels like her child, her exemption. We are just trying to be amicable with her since she can be pretty unreasonable and our taking the exemption would be a battle. We are just happy to be able to provide a stable home for our niece. My niece moved in with us as soon as she turned 18 and she's now 20 and in college.

[lorelei]

Bongars, you sound almost exactly like me except you have a niece and I have a domestic partner. I haven't filed yet. Whether I go Chapter 7 or 13 is going to depend on whether she can count as a member of my household or not. I found case law in our district that *I* think says yes, but my attorney today said no and that I have to be 13. How? I can't scrape enough together to buy a coke out of a vending machine the day before payday. I wish I had good advice or something knowledgeable to say but I don't. All I can say is, you're not alone in all this. I'm so tired. It is painful.

[csonly]

Bongars - Go over your schedules and means test and be sure all your figures are right. Make sure you are not missing any expenses. We are in the same boat, our means test was negative (-)$125 but UST says we have $1041 DMI. Make sure you also check the forms the trustee has submitted with the POA and see where the discrepancies are and go from there. You may also be able to use special circumstances with your niece, I don't know, just a thought. I've just come to the conclusion that even a 13 puts me in a better place than I was before filing, I hate the ball and chain, penny pinching lifestyle that it will bring, but we'll deal with it. Now, if I could talk my family into only eating every other day, we'd be in good shape!!! I hope this works out for you.

[olivies]

Is it possible to take an expense for the continued care of a family member instead of taking her as a household member?