Spouse`s Income
I finished full-times studies in October of 1995 and still owe more than $7000.00 in loans. They want their money now in full but I also owe approximately $8000.00 in credit card debt. I do not own a house or a vehicle and I make about $1100.00 a month. The only loan that I qualify for is from Citifinancial and it isn`t enough to pay for everything and the payments would leave me nothing left over to pay the rest of my debts. The student loan people are threatening to sue if I don`t take this loan. They don`t care if I cannot pay the rest of my debts. I am considering bankruptcy but my husband is very concerned over how this will affect him. Will his income (only about $1200.00) a month be taken into account when my payments are calculated? Our monthly expenses are $1950.00 a month and he owes about $11000.00 in credit card debt himself. I also receive $128.02 for a child tax credit for my 5 year old son. Will this be considered as income too?
When you are calculating your income during bankruptcy you are required to include income from evey source. This would include both your husbands income and the child tax benefit (although as you do the surplus calculation there is a provision to multiply the surplus by your percentage of the household income and as a result the impact of other sources is largely marginal).
It would be a good idea to contact a local trustee, have them explain how the calculation is done and run through a sample using your situation.