Documenting expenses for attorney

[LostOne0069]

OK, so we've finally paid the retainer to our attorney... and he's sent us the "packet" of stuff he needs/wants so he can get us ready to file.

In this he's asking for 7 months of "expenses"... including food, gas, insurance, medical, etc. etc. etc... everything we've spent our money on in the last 7 months.

our problem is this.... except for things that have "bills"... like credit cards, insurance, utilities etc. We don't HAVE any documentation for what we spent. We use debit cards or cash for everything that doesn't have a monthly "bill" to pay and thus have no way to show what we spent the money on... Anyone else have to deal with this? What are we supposed to do? Make our best guess? Look at the location that the debit card was used and "assume" what the expense was for? What about the ones that we can't figure out what store it was at or what we bought?

My attorney was not too helpful here when I mentioned this to him... he said, "oh, debit cards are EASY, you just look at where it was spent and if, for example, it says "shopright" then it was for groceries".... well, yes and no. As many people do, we buy a LOT of stuff from "grocery" stores... including housewares, cleaning supplies, medicine, diapers/pullups... hell, in some places, we even buy clothes! (like Target)... I mean, there's no WAY we can separate out what was spent for what by using our debit card line items from our bank statements. This doesn't even address the stuff we spent cash on.

Any advice? especially from those who have incomes that are either above the median or just below.... We make $90,000/year... The median income for our size family in our state (NJ) is $104,000.

We just don't want to end up pushed into a chapter 13.

[SinkingFast]

We saved all our receipts, EVERYONE, for an entire month. Starting in January. Even tho a purchase or 2 gets thru here and there, even now, I'm still saving receipts. I've got a baggie going that I keep them all stashed in. It would take some time to go thru and sort, but it could be done.

And you are right. Debit Card purchases aren't enough. We do most of our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. It's the cheapest place that's close. But we also buy more than food there. Toothpaste, soap, laundry products, light bulbs, tp, you name it. Not much clothes. No money at all lately.

Debit card should give you your gasoline expenses. Any car repairs you've made recently now that you're living on cash only as well, I'd imagine. Your Debit Card purchases will probably tell you a lot. And then sit down and think about the last year. What you've had to spend money on and make notes. That's what I did.

We saved our receipts for a month. I know that we spent $1200/mo on food. Told that to the attny. Schedules allow for $1300/mo for our family size here. The paralegal said that she adjusted our groceries expense downward to bring it in line with what the Court is used to seeing. Now the attny is reviewing our petition and the paralegal said the attny will probably adjust our expenses as well.

Get some good rough guesstimates for the attny. Look at the Schedules to see what you're allowed and don't exceed that. Also, maybe look at PACER and see how your attny has filed other people's petitions. It will give you an idea of how he/she thinks. The attny is gonna adjust whatever you tell them anyway.

Wanted to add,.............. Look at the Schedules for Food, clothes, that sort of thing. List your real rent or mortgage payment and your real utilities expenses. Things like that you will get the real amount for. It's the other stuff that gets adjusted.

[anonymuse]

I'm in the debit card mode too. Real easy to tell the gas payments. And, again, Walmart is the store of choice.

I'm using the Deluxe version of Quicken to try and track my expenses since it allows you to attach statements, checks, and receipts electronically. I've created categories that match up with the categories on the schedules. I've only gone back to January to put the info in, but the reports it makes will save time in the long run.

[Minnymouth]

EXCELLENT IDEA,


Also will tell you exactly WHERE AND WHAT YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY ON..... for future use in cutting back expenses.......

[LostOne0069]

Tracking the future isn't a problem... coming up with numbers that are reasonably close to accurate isn't really a problem... being able to PROVE those numbers is much more of a problem if they want past data. Oh well, considering all the 'non-bill' expenses that we have are well within the "allowed" expenses, I guess I don't have too much to worry about. I guess my attorney will just have to cope.