MoC coming up!

[SmoothBrain]

Hello all, I filed Chapter 7 in January and have my MoC soon. A few days ago I was asked to provide my bank statement for the month of January, along with statements from two brokerage accounts with zero balances for over a year and statements from cash-like accounts such as Venmo and CashApp as well as my most recent paystub. This is what the trustee requested.

My attorney filed me as no assets and said I passed the means test, without a lot of wiggle room. My expenses are actually quite reasonable for my income (65k) though I currently have two roommates. A large majority of my debt was ultra high interest unsecured. My concern is that the trustee will want me to file 13 instead due to the absence of paying these high interest loans and having money left over each month. 

The prospect of spending the next 3-5 years in a Chapter 13 isn't appealing. How often are cases like these converted by the trustee? Do the documents the trustee asked for prior to my MoC indicate I should be worried about anything? My housing expenses are low only because I have roommates. Can the court push me into a 13 because my expenses are lower due to having roommates?

Thanks for your input!

[sihmud]

@SmoothBrain the documents the trustee requested are completely normal. there is nothing to be concerned about regarding documentation requests. as for the question regarding bk conversion from a 7 to a 13 will usually happen when the filer's income is too high to pass the means test. when your attorney filled out and filed your balance sheet with the court there is a section at the bottom that shows how much available monthly income you have after all monthly expenses. if the trustee believes your remaining monthly funds are sufficient to handle a 13 payment plan then that's where the issue could arise. your attorney, when completing the balance sheet should have warned you in advance if he believed your income could be grounds for a conversion.

[SmoothBrain]

Thanks for the response. My car is collateral on a loan which I am not reaffirming. My expenses right now are lower because a) I am not making my car loan payment and b) I have two renters until May at which point I won't. I'm going to need a vehicle after this and plan to use money saved between now and discharge to use for a vehicle. Can I save for a down payment on a car during these next two months? Will it be frowned upon if I have a few dollars saved for this purpose?

How do these considerations factor into BK7 cases? Thanks again!

[sihmud]

@SmoothBrain My opinion is to ask your attorney. every State and trustee is different. I'll give you an example from my situation but yours may differ. I was instructed to stop my 401k contributions before filing because my attorney stated it DOES look bad when one has enough money to save and put away but is also claiming to not have enough money to pay even the smallest of bills. My advice to you is to call up your attorney, after all, you did pay them so answering your questions is part of the job they accepted payment for. you can get a ton of info on here regarding credit, rebuilding, etc.. but when it comes to legal advice no one can answer it better than the person representing you.

hope this helps and best of luck.