MasConcepts Incorporated

UPDATE: My attorney said he is going to relook at everything and see if there’s anything that can be done. Will update again when I get an answer! Just in case this is helpful for people going through the same thing

TLDR: Was told I qualified for Ch. 7, went through entire process, now told my combined income with husband is over threshold and can’t file

I have $25k in credit card/medical debt. I’ve been unemployed for the past couple months, and before that I was only working part time. With or without a job, I cannot keep up the monthly payments.
I finally decided to reach out to a law office last week to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy (Minnesota).
I had my initial phone consultation, and the attorney said I 100% qualify for Chapter 7 and we can move forward. All assets safe. He asked a bunch of questions and got the information needed.
I then uploaded all my documents they needed, and I took the pre-filing money management class that is required.

Today was supposed to be the final phone call before officially filing today, just to go over everything and make sure they have all the documents and information they need etc.
While on the phone call today, at the very end, he pulls up my paystubs from this year, and we had to include my husbands since we’re married and in the same household. My husband is NOT filing, only myself.
He then tells me that between my husband’s income and mine (again I’m currently unemployed), that we make too much money to meet the threshold for filing chapter 7.
In my state, the median is $98,328. Together our numbers pulled to about $114.000.
He said that Chapter 13 wouldn’t do me any good because I currently cannot make any monthly payments. So basically my only option now is to let everything go to collections. I’m so scared of a creditor trying to sue me or something, and who wants to deal with the constant collection phone calls on top of that. I’m also scared of collections trying to contact my family (I’ve heard they do that??)

I was so so happy to be able to file for Chapter 7 and put all of this behind me. I am so upset about this and can’t stop crying.

One thing to add (just venting): I absolutely hate that when you’re married, your income is looked at as a whole. My husband and I do not share finances. We have separate bank accounts. His name is not on my credit cards. He does not pay my credit cards. He has absolutely nothing to do with my debt and what I owe. He’s already taking care of the mortgage and other bills himself. Of course the judge does not care about that stuff.