A Few Questions, Pless Help

Question:
Hi, I'm about to file for Chapter 7 in Florida and have a few questions. Here's my situation:. My debts is all consumer credit (11 credit cards), a total balance of about 68,000 owing. I can no longer afford the monthly payments which total about 1600/month. I'm a wage earner and my take home pay is 2000/month. Monthly expenses are 1250/month. Unsecured assets are about 6000 (auto=4000, home items=2000) and profit sharing money account of 1500. That's it. My questions: 1. Do I qualify for chapter 7 (which is what I want) 2. What is the likelyhood of being dismissed for chapter 7 in my case? 3. Do I need to list my profit sharing account? It's exempt, right? Is this the 4. Do I need to list my home items in detail or can I just list "FURNITURE" without having to list every table, couch, bed, lamp, etc? 5. I believe I get a $1000 exemption on my auto? 6. And another $1000 exemption on personal property? Does this have to be one item or any number of items that equal current market $1000? My biggest ticket items are a piano and tv/vcr setup.

Answer:
You had better bump up your expenses if you want to do a Ch. 7. With an excess of $750, you will definitely be forced into a Ch. 13. Think of everything you spend in a month. Add in health club membership, cell phone, go high on food expenses, etc. Also, get an attorney to help you through it. These are all questions that your attorney should answer for you. I've taken over a number of cases where a debtor prepared and filed the various bankruptcy documents without the help of an attorney. Apart from the fact that the schedules generally have to be completely redone (the exemptions are usually wrong, debts are not listed, assets are not listed or are listed or valued incorrectly, the Statement of Financial Affairs is incorrect, and the budget is generally wrong), a number of these people lost their homes as a result of not being advised about what was required, how the process worked, how to value assets, how to deal with various types of debts, etc.--something an attorney is required to do. Others ran into severe problems at the Meeting of Creditors, where they have no one to turn to for preparation or advice, Generally, pro se debtors don't know what the Trustee is looking for, or how to properly deal with the Trustee's questions and concerns. One ended up being charged with bankruptcy fraud--all because she didn't understand the effects of what the information put in their schedules meant. Bankruptcy is a very tricky area of the law (even to attorneys who don't regularly practice it). Interestingly enough for a federal system, it is very state and locality specific. What will work in California, for example, probably won't fly here in Maryland. Do yourself a big favor--see a lawyer.





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