Child support exemption

[katfzl]

Probably a dumb question, but on schedule C, exemptions- how do you list out child support to be exempted? Do you put the monthly amount (in this case I receive about $300 a month) as the exemption amount, or do you list the total amount of projected child support to be received the rest of the year? (ie~ $300 by the 3 months remaining this year-Oct/Nov/Dec=$900).

[justbroke]

Technically, it would be the amount of money that you have in a bank, or in cash, that is not subject to being an asset of your bankruptcy estate. In other words, you would be exempting "existing" money, that you already have and have accumulated.

As for the Means Test, child support and other domestic support obligations, are "income" for the purposes of the Means Test. This is because "current monthly income" (CMI) is defined in 11 USC 101 and includes all income from all sources regardless of tax status, unless it's a benefit of the Social Security Act (SSA) or some obscure war benefit.

So, unless you have "excess" support payments sitting in a bank somewhere, or expect there to be some, you wouldn't need to list it on Schedule C. However, I would "assume" that you have at least a month's worth so I would still put something on Schedule C and name the section of law (Federal or State) that grants you the exemption. That's just in case. Also, if you have a bunch of money in an account when you file, and can't otherwise exempt the cash, the Trustee could start "wondering" and make you prove what part of it is support payments.