suspended payments

[woeisme]

On March 2 I had my attorney file a motion to suspend our payments for 3 months (April-June) because my husband hurt his back at work and was in the process of applying for disability, but in the meantime, he has no income. Anyhow, the trustee objected to the motion on March 5th, my attorney amended the motion (she'd screwed up the paperwork, which is the reason for the objection) and the trustee then withdrew his objection on the 9th. My questions are:

1. am I correct in my understanding that it's the judge that will decide whether to approve the motion to suspend payment, so it's not a done deal yet just because the trustee has withdrawn the objection, it still has one more hurdle to pass?

If the judge doesn't rule on this (assuming the judge is the one making the decision) prior to my next wage deduction (the April payment comes out of my check on Friday) the attorney said that the trustee will refund me the $1100 for the month, which would be really important to paying our bills for the month. But here's my fear...

2. Does anyone know what happens if the trustee distributes the funds to creditors prior to the judge ruling on the suspension of payments? Would that mean I might be SOL this month? He tends to distribute at the beginning of the month, so if they take the money Friday, he might be sending out payments to creditor as quickly as a week later.

I guess I'm just wondering if I should buy a couple cases of Ramen noodles to survive the month if the trustee moves too fast to distribute my payment (although maybe he won't since he know the suspension is in the works?) Has anyone gone through this kind of thing with suspending payments that are automatically deducted?

On the plus side, we just got back the government's doctor's report, and he has recommended approval of the disability case, so depending on how long it takes the state to get it's act together, we should start getting disability pay for hubby in May or June at the latest (the final decision won't be posted until mid-April, and then the lag time between decision and action...) So we'll be able to resume payments ok when the 3-month suspension is up, it's just this next month that has me worried.

[MajorMike]

Do you have income or is this the only income that is coming into the household?
You'd have to call your attorney to get the answers to these questions to ensure he trustee contacts the court and asks them not to distribute a payment.
Does your 13 then get extended?

[AngelinaCatHub]

Oh, Ms. 'Woe'. You have been in our circle from day one. I feel so badly for you. Now get on with the Hubby's situation as I understand he will be turned down about three times for SS. I could take a year. Now, consider, this may be a way of taking the lemon and making lemonade. Start to make waves as the flood is about to begin in the Courts. Your actions now is the "big stick". Go 7 if you can as of now, you have NO income and his SS disability is not attached. This could be the best thing to happen to you both (not excepting your hubby's damage).

Mrs. C and I shall be praying for you. Worked for us, it will work for you. 'Hub

[LuciluS]

I applied for disability after being hurt in a car wreck. I was required to see 'the government doctor' also. I was denied. I hired an Attorney and was denied again. My Neurosurgeon and this government doctor both stated in their letters I was disabled. My Neurosurgeon, from the start, told them I was 100% disabled.

I went to my Senators and Congressmen/womens' website and all but one of them (had to copy and mail to him) had a place where you could explain to them why you were applying for Disability. I know that they all sent someone to look at my file and it was noted as such, because when I was finally approved by an Administrative Law Judge he attached letters where he had notified them of My Approval.

If you do not know who you Senators/Congress people are do a google search and I think you will find most of the have websites. Do what I did.

After 16 months of getting nowhere, I had a friend tell me I knew the State Director of Social Security. Hmmm, I called and spoke with his Admininstrative Assistant. 6 Weeks later, I received the letter from the Judge. 3 weeks later, I received confirmation from Social Security. 1 week later, the money was deposited into my checking account. The Old Saying 'Ya Gotta Know Someone to Get Somewhere' worked for me, but most people don't have that privilege.

So you know how long it took me to get SSD and that was with "inside help". It took my girlfriend in Indiana 4 years to get her disability and she had an Attorney at the very beginning.

If you can convert to a Chapter 7, I would high recommend doing so As Soon As Possible.

I, also, will be Praying your husband gets approved the First Time. However, the ole saying 'Don't Count The Chicken Until They Hatch' may apply. Prayers, Prayers Coming For Your Husband and also for You!

Luci

[woeisme]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Our situation is a little different, so I will try to clarify. First of all, the problem with hubby's back happened over a year ago, he was declared disabled by the state, and received temporary disability payments, but had to exhaust his temporary disability before they would consider him for permanent disability. But since he already jumped all the hoops with the state the first time, when applying for temporary disability, the permanent disability was much easier, we already got a letter notifying us of approval for it on Saturday, he just needs to be re-evaluated in a year and submit doctor's reports on a quarterly basis in the meantime.

The second part that is different is that my husband worked for the State of Ohio, which has their own separate retirement and disability programs, so it is not through Social Security at all, which might be why we were able to get the approval so fast after the temporary disability ran out (temp is also run by state, but through a separate program name). We tried to get the CH 13 case converted when this all happened, but first the lawyer said we had to wait to see if disability was going to be temp or permanent, now that we know permanent, she's still saying wait, guess since it's not her $, what does she care? But she said the trustee wouldn't consider a conversion while all this is up in the air, that it would be a waste of time doing the paperwork now, which is why she applied for the 3 month suspension instead.

I do have an income, in fact am the primary wage-earner in the family, even before this all happened, my salary is about double what my husband's was. My salary alone puts us right on the median/means test bubble, under by a few hundred dollars with the new standards. I mentioned to the lawyer that hubby's disability shouldn't be counted in the means, and that we would now qualify for CH 7, even when he starts getting his checks, she said that didn't matter since we still have disposable income since we've always lived frugally (hard to believe, but true) and with a $680/month house payment (this includes taxes and homeowners insurance), no car payments because we both drive beater cars that we own free and clear, and living in the midwest where the cost of living is low, she says passing the means test means nothing, as long as we have disposable income on our schedules, which we will, we can't convert the CH 13 to a 7.

The 3 month suspension won't raise our payments, at least not according to the petition our attorney submitted and the trustee didn't object to. Our original petition was for a 59 month plan paying back 65% to unsecureds, but some of our medical bills never filed claims, so she said we'd have the 65% plan base paid off in 52 months, so the 3 month suspension just means we'll finish the plan after 55 months instead. Here I thought we'd just end up paying back a higher percentage and still go the full 59 months, but according to our lawyer, in our district having fewer claims filed than anticipated means you pay less. (We do have a really great trustee, let's us keep tax refunds, doesn't require tax forms be submitted yearly, only charges 2.7% trustee fees, etc., so I'm tempted to believe her, especially after the trustee withdrew his objection to our suspended payments with no mention of higher payments being necessary as a condition.)

I'm half tempted to dismiss the CH 13 voluntarily since we have no secured debt in the plan, go out and get a couple newer cars to raise our expenses (probably have to get Mom to co-sign since credit is now trashed), and file CH 7 since our lawyer keeps talking like we have to complete our CH 13, no modifications (other than the 3-month suspension of payments) allowed. But I doubt I'll have the guts to do that, it's just frustration talking.