INSTRUCTIONS : SCHEDULE J CURRENT EXPENDITURES OF INDIVIDUAL DEBTORS (Form B-6J)

• Schedule J, which lists the current expenditures of individual debtors is one of the bankruptcy form 6 schedules that will offer information about your financial predicament. On this form, all of your expenses should be calculated on a monthly basis using the past six months of expenditures as a basic guideline.

• Before beginning to file the Form B-6J, Schedule J Current Expenditures of Individual Debtors petition, you must gather all necessary materials to expedite the process. Collecting necessary paperwork to calculate your monthly expenses is vital. The following documents or income statements should be gathered to streamline this process:
o Your mortgage statement (this is obviously not applicable if you rent)

o All of your utilities bills, including electricity and gas, water, telephone, cable and all bills associated with trash collection

o All of your receipts for all expenditures for the past six months

o Records for any charitable contributions that you may have made

o Insurance statements for health, auto, life and other

o All payment stubs or documents associated with loans

o Your bank statements for the last six months

When you have gathered the above information, Form B-6J Schedule J requires you to calculate your monthly expenses. For each line on Schedule J, add up the total expenditures for the last six months. Once you have done this, find the monthly average by dividing this sum by 6. In this section, some expenses may not be paid on a monthly basis; when this occurs, pro-rate these expenditures by multiplying the number of payments made in a year by dividing by 12.

When filing this information be sure not to duplicate expenses; some expenses, such as homeowner’s insurance, may fit into multiple categories. Only calculate these items once; income taxes, for instance, that are withheld from your paychecks should not be included on multiple lines.

In addition to avoiding duplicates, be sure to not over or underestimate your expenses; you must be accurate and inclusive when entering this information.