We had our initial 341 meeting on January 28th but it has been continued until March 4th as the Asst. US Trustee has requested additional information. Some of this information was on our children (work, college, etc.) and some questioned the numbers on our Means test and schedules. It definitely appears that some of these calculations are incorrect.
From the initial filing, we were a border line Chapter 7 but could go into a Ch 13. As of the filing, we had about 50k in unsecured debt.
Now, here's the wrinkle. My wife will be starting a new job in two weeks. Her annual income will rise substanially. We have advised our attorney of this but since this is a future event and "could" change, it was not mentioned at the 341 since that is based on prevoius and the here and now. I am afraid that if we get pushed into the Chapter 13, then the new income will come into play and we will be at 100% payback, negating the income increase and locking us down for 5 years. Within this time period, our children's student loans will have to start being paid, as they are currently deferred while still in college. Both could graduate as early as May, 2014.
I am wondering if, should the Trustee force us into a Chapter 13-or at least if we appear to be heading that way, would we have any success at negotiating and settling the debt prior to confirmation and withdrawn the BK petition? We are expecting a decent tax refund and could conceivably offer abut 15% to the creditors, but it would take a 100% buy-in from all of them. This way though we lose our refund this year, the eventual pay increase would be protected. Thoughts?
From the initial filing, we were a border line Chapter 7 but could go into a Ch 13. As of the filing, we had about 50k in unsecured debt.
Now, here's the wrinkle. My wife will be starting a new job in two weeks. Her annual income will rise substanially. We have advised our attorney of this but since this is a future event and "could" change, it was not mentioned at the 341 since that is based on prevoius and the here and now. I am afraid that if we get pushed into the Chapter 13, then the new income will come into play and we will be at 100% payback, negating the income increase and locking us down for 5 years. Within this time period, our children's student loans will have to start being paid, as they are currently deferred while still in college. Both could graduate as early as May, 2014.
I am wondering if, should the Trustee force us into a Chapter 13-or at least if we appear to be heading that way, would we have any success at negotiating and settling the debt prior to confirmation and withdrawn the BK petition? We are expecting a decent tax refund and could conceivably offer abut 15% to the creditors, but it would take a 100% buy-in from all of them. This way though we lose our refund this year, the eventual pay increase would be protected. Thoughts?
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