Help with Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Petition

[LynnD]

Hi! I've been reading the posts here for awhile and am starting to work on my petition today. I'm filing Pro Se. I have, what I hope, is a fairly simple case.

No house, old van. I had started to rebuild my credit but had 2 judgments against me. I hoped neither would renew and one has renewed and the other I'm sure is about to. In addition a third creditor filed for a judgment. Those three judgments alone are over 30k. I want to buy a house in the future and these are just gnawing at me. Additionally, I have about 7k in old taxes from 2002. (I meet the criteria) Many older debts that are past the SOL but creditors still bug me. I'd say total I have approx 60k to file.

Not married but do have a partner.

I do have the NOLO book and am using that as my guide as well as two friends bankruptcy paperwork to help reference when needed.

My questions are:

1-Can any information be entered by hand? I put the forms into pdfescape and accidentally deleted a couple of boxes and now I can't enter the info. I could bring the form back in but would have to unfreeze EVERY box again and that is such a pain.

2-In NOLO it doesn't show "Wages" or "Self Employed Income" go on line 35 on Schedule B-Personal Property. However, on both sets of my friends paperwork the attorney has added in "Wages" on one (for the employed person) and "Self Employed Income" for the other person who is self employed. It then says "Per Statute" in the amount box.

3-How do I deal with the partner situation? We have one joint back account where her income (well now unemployment) goes in and then I put I transfer over my child support and income over to pay my share of bills. On Schedule B, I listed the bank account and put that I am joint holder to deposit money for my portion of bills but it is not my account. Is that right and where else does this info go? Schedule C and how?
--Almost all utilities are in her name but I pay a portion. I don't NEED this to qualify for Chapter 7, I am WAY below but not sure how to address it.
--We are both on the lease but I pay half. How do I address that?
--Do I have to include her unemployment somewhere on my form?

Thanks so much for any advice! I'm in Colorado.

[justbroke]

1-Can any information be entered by hand? I put the forms into pdfescape and accidentally deleted a couple of boxes and now I can't enter the info. I could bring the form back in but would have to unfreeze EVERY box again and that is such a pain.

It is strongly suggested that you type them in by using the fillable forms on a computer and then printing them. I have seen hand-written petitions and they are not forbidden, just not recommended. If you do complete some of the forms by hand, just make sure you print VERY LEGIBLY. The reason for typing it is obvious when it comes to legibility.

2-In NOLO it doesn't show "Wages" or "Self Employed Income" go on line 35 on Schedule B-Personal Property. However, on both sets of my friends paperwork the attorney has added in "Wages" on one (for the employed person) and "Self Employed Income" for the other person who is self employed. It then says "Per Statute" in the amount box.

This is if you have some money that is left in a bank account that comes from wages. You would need to consult that statute for your State and determine if that coveres what "wages" you have in a bank account on the day you filed. Additionally, you may have other exemptions available to you to protect cash.

Just how much cash are we talking anyhow? In almost all states, at least 75% of the "earned" wages (and as much as $500 or more if head of household) are "protected" by statute from the reach of creditors. If you do put "per statute" in that box, you should make sure of exactly WHAT the statute protects! We have had other pro se debtors come on to the board and complain about the Trustee taking their "savings" away after the pro se debtor had incorrectly exempted the cash in the account.

3-How do I deal with the partner situation? We have one joint back account where her income (well now unemployment) goes in and then I put I transfer over my child support and income over to pay my share of bills. On Schedule B, I listed the bank account and put that I am joint holder to deposit money for my portion of bills but it is not my account. Is that right and where else does this info go? Schedule C and how?

You only put what portion of the money in a joint account is yours. If you have an exemption that covers cash, you exempt it. This may not prevent the Trustee from challenging you and making you PROVE that the amount in the count is not yours.

Additionally, when it comes to partners, roommates or boarders (or even non-filing spouses), their income only counts to the extent that it offsets your expenses. Unless they are a spouse, you don't even list their income. What you do, though, is offset your expenses by what they contribute. For example, if they pay half the rent and your rent is $1,500/month, then YOUR rent is $750 a month and not $1,500/month. (This can vary by District and some Districts may require that you just add their total "contribution" as a single dollar amount on Schedule I as "other income" and still claim the entire monthly rent.)

Of course, this is where an attorney comes in handy when you have very particular circumstances.

--Almost all utilities are in her name but I pay a portion. I don't NEED this to qualify for Chapter 7, I am WAY below but not sure how to address it.

You are way below what? The median? It's not the median income that allows you to successfully discharge. It's your income less expenses. If your income less expenses -- known as your disposable monthly income (DMI) -- is more than $182.50/month... then you could be pushed into a Chapter 13.

--We are both on the lease but I pay half. How do I address that?

See above. Please note that how you account for it may vary by District. You could try it either way and see if the Trustee complains, or do more research.

--Do I have to include her unemployment somewhere on my form?

No. See above. You only include that which offsets your expenses.

I hope that helps.

[LynnD]

Justbroke.. you are my hero!

As far as the bank account goes.. she never really has money in it anyway so if they are just checking money in the account etc-I really have nothing worry about anyway :-)

I am way below the median and I have nothing to worry about with income vrs expenses either. I lost my job last Sept and have a part time one but I make a whopping 2300 per month (1290 is child support) with 4 kids and a rent payment alone of 1100. Then add in expenses for the kids, utilities and I'd be negative except I figure out ways to be creative to help us as much as possible ie coupons for food.

Oh and as far as the forms, it is just a couple of check marks that I didn't check. I'll just check them in, So far the rest is all typed in. Of course I have a LONG way to go!

One more question: On Schedule F, I have 3 old AT&T accounts from around 2003. AT&T hasn't contacted me in years and they aren't on any of my credit reports even credit reports from 2 yrs ago. However, Calvary has the accounts and even though all three accounts are past SOL and not even able to show on my credit reports, they send me statements etc monthly. Can I just include the three accounts with Calvary or do I HAVE to put AT&T first?

In the same line of thought.. I read that you do not have to include any account that shows a zero balance. So say I have Comp USA/HSBC and they show 0 balance but there is a collection agency trying to collect on the amount. Do I still leave the HSBC/Comp USA off? I have several accounts similar to this situation.

Thanks so much.

[justbroke]

One more question: On Schedule F, I have 3 old AT&T accounts from around 2003. AT&T hasn't contacted me in years and they aren't on any of my credit reports even credit reports from 2 yrs ago. However, Calvary has the accounts and even though all three accounts are past SOL and not even able to show on my credit reports, they send me statements etc monthly. Can I just include the three accounts with Calvary or do I HAVE to put AT&T first?

I would include every account that you know of. You can label some of them (in the "description" box) "for notification only". That way there is no question that AT&T was notified and the collection agency was notified. As a matter of fact, it is common attorney practice to include every creditor listed on the credit report. For the ones that are duplicates, just mark the duplicate one (the collection agency) as duplicate, "for notification only", and put $1.00 for the amount due and owing. Just makes it easier from a notification purpose. You technically only need to notify the original creditor, but sometimes (well always) these things get sold and you can avoid some of the unpleasantness of "zombie" debt coming back to haunt you!

In the same line of thought.. I read that you do not have to include any account that shows a zero balance. So say I have Comp USA/HSBC and they show 0 balance but there is a collection agency trying to collect on the amount. Do I still leave the HSBC/Comp USA off? I have several accounts similar to this situation.

No. I would add them all, as I mentioned above. This just helps to establish that you have no zombie debt. Here's a credit report pointer. If the original account from HSBC/Comp USA shows as "charged off", I would include it on the Schedules and then make sure the credit reporting agencies report it as "included in bankruptcy" after you are discharged. (It's not guaranteed that you can get the original account deleted, but sometimes they will remove ALL payment history and mark it simply as included in bankruptcy!)

[LynnD]

Thanks justbroke. Very few of my accounts are even on my credit report but I still get letters from collection agencies etc. I will be probably listing 50 creditors and collectors but only about 5 are on my credit report.

Thanks again for your help..it is invaluable!