Topic: I just hit the reset button on my finances

[Cobra951]

Full reboot will take about 4 months.  Child support is persistent, however.  I can't delete that process from the config.  It was extremely easy to do, though the preparation time of 3 years was not.  Even under the new bankruptcy laws, written by credit-card companies and rubber-stamped by Bush 43, it is possible to walk away from a mountain of credit-card and other debt.  You need to be under a certain threshold of income which goes up with dependents, averaged over 3 years.  I was in court today, raising my right hand, swearing and all that.  Simple questions, all very perfunctory.  No creditors showed up to contest anything.  Afterwards, the lawyer and judge conferred for a few minutes.  The lawyer came out smiling and said the judge was "closing it out", meaning I didn't even have to go back to court again.  I'll get my full discharge certificate in about 4 months.  Creditors have 120 days to chime in with objections.  Doesn't look like that's going to happen.  I need to complete a credit counseling thing online within 60 days and have them email the completion certificate to my lawyer.  I'll be tackling that ASAP.

So I am now officially a statistic of modern times.  Yay for economic meltdown.

[angrykeebler]

Sounds like good news though I'm sorry you had to go through any of it. I'm trying to be more guarded with my financial decisions nowadays so I don't end up there myself.

Fuck credit card companies!

[Quemaqua]

So you didn't have any luck getting your support payments looked at?  I don't know exactly how things work in your neck of the woods, but I'm still around if you ever have anything you think I can help with.

Anyway, I'm glad for you.  I hope it will be a new start and that you'll be able to put all that stuff behind you.  I'll raise a glass to that!

[gpw11]

Nice.  I just bought an automatic change roller myself.  Enjoy your fresh start, I'm loving mine.

But I do find it kind of suprising that nothing can be done about the support payments.  I know nothing about it, and I know here you can't really get away from them AT ALL (you also can't walk away from a mortgage nearly as easily), but it seems a bit ridiculous.

[Quemaqua]

If there's one thing that it is, it's ridiculous.

[Cobra951]

I agree, but since it's for my children, I've been paying it without complaint.  You need to be a hands-on parent to understand how life-changing it is.  I'll do without so that they don't.  But I have to have something to give, and that's all gone now.

I do need to look at possibilities for reduction or assistance with this.  Que was very helpful by detailing review procedures where he is.  What held me back is that I had the money to pay it, and I know their situation.  I don't know that their lives will continue unaffected with a loss of over $700 of monthly income.  If I could continue paying it, I would.  Maybe that will become a possibility again, somehow.

[Quemaqua]

But if you have no ability to pay, recognize quickly that you're simply going to be racking up a whole different set of debt.  This stuff is tracked and is far harder to get rid of than, say, credit card debt.  The government won't let you out of it, and we have many cases in my county where guys owe arrears upwards of $50-$100k and they don't even have the ability to pay.  It's insane, but the obligor really has to be the one to keep them apprised of the situation and make sure that when he has no ability, they know it.  And moreover that they know it's legitimate.  We do a thing called a Compromise of Arrears which more or less involves paying a substantial lump sum toward the arrears and the other party may forgive the rest of the debt due to that payment, but it's by no means a sure thing (the government has to approve you for it) and you still need to have that lump sum to begin with.

Anyway... keep your eyes open and don't let them screw you.  I do believe firmly that one should support their children, but this system is very, very broken.

[gpw11]

This is why the pulling out method is bullshit.  Conversely, the "tell them a fake name and vanish off the face of the earth" method has been working like a charm for me over the last ten or so years.