@Anonymous wrote:I have been researching bankruptsy for the last few weeks and have made the decision to go through with it towards the end of the year but have a question about family size. I rent a house with my sister but also my elderly mom and grandson live with us. I take care of my grandson and also my mom (shared with my sister) due to her only receiving ss and pension totalling 12,000 per year. What would my family size be for the means test? Is it everyone that lives in the house (4)? Is it just me (1)? Or can include my grandson and mom (3)? I will be scheduling meetings with attorneys in a few months but I want to have as much research done by then in order to know what questions to ask. My yearly income is around 73k but I have credit card debt of close to 70k, student loans of 60k (which I know are not dischargable), a car lease (20k) and a personal loan of 8k. So really bad, entirely my fault. I have some "over 90" marks on ALL my student loans (something like 20 accounts) but they are due to fall off next year and 1 recent 30 day late just because I missed paying a credit card. I've been keeping up with paying but it has put me further and further in debt and it has recently become a struggle to pay the minimum on everythings. Thanks for any help!
For the family size issue, you are going to want to talk to a reputable bankruptcy lawyer in your area who is familiar with how bankruptcy judges and trustees in your jurisdiction look at family size.
There is not one definition of how to count family size in bankruptcy courts. From what I've read, some courts look at whether you claim any additional family members (outside of spouse and children) on your income taxes as dependents, while other courts take a "Census" approach by counting whoever lives under the roof and functions together as an economic unit.
The best way to know how your jurisdiction leans is to talk to a knowledgeable attorney who has handled many bankruptcy cases.
