How many successful Chapter 13's out there?

[mom901]

I am just curious as to how many plans are successful and no stress involved along the way or suprises. I am curious how many out there also had a smooth bk with no percent increases for the lawyers or trustees and if they did increase, why and how much and are they allowed for no reason?

[espo1357]

I am just curious as to how many plans are successful and no stress involved along the way or suprises. I am curious how many out there also had a smooth bk with no percent increases for the lawyers or trustees and if they did increase, why and how much and are they allowed for no reason?

Did a search a few months ago, and one site indicated it was about 80-90 percent that fail.

Not sure what the true numbers are, but I bet that its not far off that number.

Its been about a year for me, and it really stinks big time.

[justbroke]

It's probably that less than 40% make it to confirmation, and probably half of those fail. However, the failures are lumped together with the conversions to Chapter 7 and the ones that just don't want to do it anymore for strategic reasons. Some people also use it as a temporary way to save their home... with no intention of completing the case. I'd say that's about half of the failures.

The other half of the failures (about 40% overall) come from people who can't or refuse to budget.

[scott29]

I completed mine on 6-2-10. I am currently waiting on the discharge. My plan percent was increased only because I had to send in my tax returns. My monthly amount stayed the same throughout the five years. Mine went very smooth with no surprises. Never heard from the trustee or attorney except when they sent out a statement once a year. Hang in there and good luck.

[momofthree]

I'm only 6 months in, but so far so good. *knock on wood* We've even been able to save up a small emergency fund.

[despritfreya]

The answer depends on many factors as "justbroke" has pointed out. Taking out the strategic failures and the conversion, statistically (in my jurisdiction at least), 90% of pro se filings fail and a little over 40% of non-pro se filings fail. While I have not looked into this, I suspect that once the Plan is Confirmed the percentages for success (for those cases that have not already failed) increases dramatically.

As to the fees for the attorney... either it is a fixed fee or it is an hourly fee. Depending upon the jurisdiction, there may be a "no look" amount. Anything over the "no look" amount must be justified and therefore converts the fixed fee to an hourly rate, at least in the eyes of the Judge. While my jurisdiction has a "no look" amount, the cases my Firm tends to handle require litigation and therefore would normally exceed the "no look" amount. As a result, my Firm bills on an hourly rate and all fees are approved by the Court. The client is sent monthly billing statements and knows exactly what is being charged and why.

[BNKRPTinNC]

Perhaps ours is an unusual case but nearly 2 years into plan and we've had no issues, to date. Our plan has allowed us to save each month. We had excellant representation and have been living on a fairly strict budget that has kept us ahead. Frankly, we have been better off theselast couple of years than prior to filing. The bills are all paid, on time, and but for the statements from the trustee we have had no other contact. The stress factor as far as living with a 5 year plan is just not there, for us. As I said we had an atty that submitted a plan that allowed us to more than just survive over the next 5 years. Financial surprises are part of life and dealt with accordingly. Have had our share since the start but have managed to get thru.

You can count us as one of the ones that will succeed with our 13.

Besides,how else are we going to get the hamster dance?

[mom901]

I truly appreciate all of your replies and help. I love hearing from others. We really want this to work but hear so many stories of problems and that scares me. But I love hearing the good ones as well as the not so good, thanks all for sharing and taking time to answer my post. I hope I am here five years from now saying how it went well, thanks again

[justbroke]

Even though I didn't complete my Chapter 13, I successfully converted and received a discharge in a Chapter 7. I spent almost 2 years in my Chapter 13.

[mom901]

The attorney told us we could never convert because we want to keep our home we built and we owe on an equity loan and taxes. So they told us we can only do the 13. Not sure if that is true, I hope they are telling us the truth. Also we are paying zero to the 65k unsecured.

[Flamingo]

I am just curious as to how many plans are successful and no stress involved along the way or suprises. I am curious how many out there also had a smooth bk with no percent increases for the lawyers or trustees and if they did increase, why and how much and are they allowed for no reason?

Successful Plan finish here (finished early - old law and was able to buy out early due to major roof repair/replacement needed. One-Half of an inheritance from my FIL (who passed 1 1/2 years into our Plan) to my husband was taken by the Trustee which increased our payback percentage to 64% from 53%. Other than that we stayed low, budgeted like crazy, were never late with anything and are now sitting pretty 4 years after discharge but have learned quite a lot and have learned to control our money and not let it control us.

[mom901]

Flamingo,
You inspire me and give me hope and thanks I am very sorry though to hear of your loss and it is awful they took half. It seems so illegal and unfair. I know on another thread you and I talked about estates I think and you mentioned this happening, I don't want to think about it but if you are included in someone's will and something happens, is the trustee only concerned with the monetary portion? What about personal belongings and heirlooms and misc.? Are there things your lawyer can do to protect any of this that you were to receive? We are paying zero to unsecureds so I was wondering about that. Like I said, not that I ever want to think about it, just learning. I really admire the fact that you did so well in your plan and part of me thinks we can do this. Thanks so much Flamingo.

[Flamingo]

Flamingo,
You inspire me and give me hope and thanks I am very sorry though to hear of your loss and it is awful they took half. It seems so illegal and unfair. I know on another thread you and I talked about estates I think and you mentioned this happening, I don't want to think about it but if you are included in someone's will and something happens, is the trustee only concerned with the monetary portion? What about personal belongings and heirlooms and misc.? Are there things your lawyer can do to protect any of this that you were to receive? We are paying zero to unsecureds so I was wondering about that. Like I said, not that I ever want to think about it, just learning. I really admire the fact that you did so well in your plan and part of me thinks we can do this. Thanks so much Flamingo.

It's hard work to get through a plan as everyone finds out but a Chapter 13 is the best budget teacher in the world and if you stick with what you learn during those years, you will make major changes in your life that will benefit you. As to the subject of relatives passing during a plan in which you may be in their will. Note that most people filing chapter 13's are in someone's will. If it bothers you to the point where there might be family heirlooms, big insurance policies, etc., etc., then by all means if you know you are in someone's will and may inherit at some time during your plan, it never hurts to consult with an estate planning attorney via a consultation. It would also benefit you for your own estate also if you do not have a will. Note also you are usually asked prior to filing if you expect to be the recipient of any inheritance or insurance settlements during your plan years. It is always best to be open and honest about one's entire financial situation during your Plan to successfully get through it. You may not like it but comply with all instructions given to you.

[needanswers]

The failure rate scared the heck out of me, so much so that I wanted to go for a Ch. 7 and forget about trying to lien strip our 2nd mortgage. But we're 3 payments into our plan and so far, so good. I think if you get a good attorney with a knowledgeable team working for them, it is a painless process.

Hearing some of the cases at our 341 really made me grateful that we went with our attorney. If I didn't do a little research on BKs, I would not have known what to look for when interviewing BK firms.

[ruggal]

I just received the discharge yesterday

A successful completion here! Just received the official discharge papers in the mail yesterday!

My bankruptcy was uneventful, but unfortunately life did not follow suit. The trustee in our district is busy and therefore not involved in some of the micromanagement I've seen others experience on this site. We are not required to submit tax returns after confirmation, and are allowed to keep the tax refunds (ours were always under $600 anyway). Also they only request you notify your attorney if your income increases more than $15K (which unfortunately was not us). Our plan was confirmed with no objections and was for a 10% payoff to unsecured, and in this district payoff percentage DOES matter, and early payoffs are allowed. I know this is not supposed to be the case, and there are many threads here that point to the contrary. I can assure you that is how it works in this district.

Our attorney told us that the trustee in this district will not accept anything below a 10% payoff for unsecured (he may mean without a fight, but I was okay with that), and the plan could have gone up to 47 months if all of the creditors had filed claims, since they didn't we were done at 37 and some change payments. I say change because you can request a payoff 36 months after confirmation in this district. I did make the request, and received the final payoff (which was less than the normal payment) figure, and the Trustee closed the case within 3 weeks of receiving that payment. We received the discharge order about 2 weeks after that.

Now the life part was something else, let's see, husband lost his job and was off for 6 weeks before securing another position at about a 40% loss in income. I had to take on a second job for a year to cover the difference. He had back surgery last year ($2500 out of pocket), and two months ago the transmission went out on his car. We've been sharing one car since. Also had one child in college for the duration of our 13, who just graduated, and one starting later this month. Fortunately his child support obligation was over at the same time the 13 completed.

Despite all of these things, we were never late on any payments to anyone over the course of this plan. We had some wiggle room in the budget, and were able to cut some expenses to the bone in order to make it work. Not easy by any means, but extremely gratifying to have completed despite the overwhelming odds.

Filed 5/1/07
Confirmed 6/20/07
Final Payment 6/24/10
Case Closed 7/15/10
Discharge 8/5/10