One month late on BC Chap 13 payment, advice please

[TryingMyBest]

Hello. I am new to the forum and sincerly appreciate any feedback anyone can give me. My husband and I filed Chapter 13 (100% funded) back in October 2005. My husband was laid off and is now working a commission only job and the income has hit the skids. I am employed full time. The problem is, our bankruptcy was 100% funded because of our total income and we filed Chapter 13 to repay our debts and get clean start. The payments are hefty, $2145 per month. In addition to this, we have the normal living expenses (rent, utlitities, gas, etc). We are late on June's payment and will be able to pay it in 2 weeks. My question is, what can I anticipate happening at this point from the trustee? So far, no word from them. Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide any advice.

[aa06a47]

Hello. I am new to the forum and sincerly appreciate any feedback anyone can give me. My husband and I filed Chapter 13 (100% funded) back in October 2005. My husband was laid off and is now working a commission only job and the income has hit the skids. I am employed full time. The problem is, our bankruptcy was 100% funded because of our total income and we filed Chapter 13 to repay our debts and get clean start. The payments are hefty, $2145 per month. In addition to this, we have the normal living expenses (rent, utlitities, gas, etc). We are late on June's payment and will be able to pay it in 2 weeks. My question is, what can I anticipate happening at this point from the trustee? So far, no word from them. Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide any advice.

Sooner or later your attorney or yourself will be getting a notice that the trustee has filed a motion to dismiss for non payment. Do you have a Pacer account? If so, you can check to see if any motions have been filed.

You should contact your attorney immediatly and explain the income loss situation and request a modification to the plan. Not doing anything at this point would be the wrong thing to do. A loss of income is a very good reason to ask for a modification. It can be worked out now, but if you wait for the motion to dismiss, it might be more difficult.

[TryingMyBest]

Thank you. I intend to contact our attorney again on Monday and I will request a plan modification. I did contact the attorney's office a couple weeks ago and was told "maybe the trustee won't notice if you miss this month and will tack it on to the end of your payment plan". I was perplexed by this response because I doubt a trustee "will not notice". The attorney's thought is that the trustee is so backed up, it's possible they won't notice until later, when reconciling the payment history.

[TryingMyBest]

Sorry, also...what is a Pacer account? Don't mean to sound stupid. Thanks

[lrprn]

PACER is the government's database of court filings. Check out the 'sticky' on PACER at http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/t1011-what-is-pacer.html for how it works and how to sign up. It isn't free - it costs $0.08 a page to view your case file at PACER.

Another option to see the details of your bk case is if your trustee is a member of 13Network, you can access your case information there and it's FREE. Go to http://www.13network.com/ and scroll down to your state - see if your trustee's name is there. If it is, click on the name link and request a user id and password. We got ours the next business day.

You've gotten some great advice already - contact your attorney IMMEDIATELY and ask him/her to request a plan modification due to a major change in income. Not paying your monthly payment and doing nothing is the very worst thing you can do. If your case is discharged due to non-payment, you open the door to all your creditors roaring back with all your original debt plus late fees and other piled on charges. That's something to avoid if you possibly can. Good luck - let us know what your lawyer says on Monday.

[TryingMyBest]

Thank you SO much for the info. I will definitely post back to let you know how the conversation with our attorney goes.