Chapter 13 filing , will sign Thursday

[tleeburks]

I have a question about us filing chap 13. We have a house involved and also 2 vehicles that we are of course way upside down on. Mine 94 silverado, ill keep, don't want to but... Hers: 97 windstar, she doesn't want it. The heater core needs replaced, so no heat as of yet. Very expensive to fix, the front end shakes, etc etc etc. Anyway, my question is. The lawyer is suggesting keeping the van and then in 4-6 months asking the trustee to have us give up the van and request to incur more debt i.e. go buy another van, newer, safer etc. Can we just not reaffirm the van, go into the trustee and immediately ask to send the van back, and buy a newer van. The income is there. We just don't trust this van. Its not gonna last that long. My wife is really on me about this so please help. Tired of arguing about it. This is no fun at all. Thanks for the input.

Terry

[HHM]

Strictly speaking, you do not "reaffirm" in a chapter 13 (reaffirmation is a term of art in bankruptcy). In a chapter 13, you either include the car in the plan or exclude the car.

I would side with your attorney on this one. The problem with surrending the van at the start of the case is that it indicates you really don't need the second car and the trustee may not stipulate to allow you to incur new debt to get a second vehicle. The trustee is looking to maximize payments under the chapter 13 plan, so if you go in saying I want to give up Van A, then whatever payment you were making on the van goes into the chapter 13 plan.

Strictly speaking it would have been easier to dump the old van and buy another one before you filed BK.

[tleeburks]

We are probably too late to do that as we go see the lawyer tomorrow to sign and then they file on Friday. The lawyer and pararlegals say that it would be based upon experience impossible to send the van back and then ask to incur more debt to purchase a new one. The payments wouldn't go up much. We pay 165.00 every two weeks and the lawyer made a plan out to pay around 160.00 a month to the trustee. I think we can get into a new van or somewhat new for around 350.00 a month with sales tax paid and everything. We just have to get the trustee to sign off on it. The old van has many problems. It can be a safety hazard and we haven't registered it yet. My wife doesn't want it and the lawyers recommend we keep it and then ask to get a newer one in six to nine months. Help, please. I'm caught in the middle here. My life is no fun right now. Help.

T.