Absent Lawyer, Job Loss, and only 3 more payments

[CtheLight]

My lawyer has stopped dealing with bankruptcy cases and has ignored my case for the most part.
With my husband's job contract not being renewed, we are once again at a point where income is questionable.
Six months or so ago when my husband was on a different contract and I (again) freaked out, I ask my lawyer if there was anything he could do to spread out payments.
His response was the payments go for 60 months and we are on a 0% plan so there was nothing we could do.
When I look at the trustee site, the 4K a month added up to a lot more than the payoff amount.

Forward to today... Another anxiety attack over money in general, I took it upon myself to call the debtor line at the trustee's office to ask if there was anything that could be done.
She looked at our case that was started in May but first payment was made in June (Lawyer didn't tell us we needed to pay in May). With only $10814 left, she put a notation that we'd be lowering our payments to $2200 with our last payment due in June. I think this gave us an extra month, but if the Trustee's office is fine with it, so am I!
It was that easy.
I've seen warnings not to bother the trustee with minutia, but in cases where your lawyer isn't communicating, a simple phone call can go a long way!
I can stop popping Valium and be productive again!

[dmc-2008]

I am usually wrong and I prob am now, but doesnt the judge have to approve the payment?

[CtheLight]

Apparently not.. She said she would notate the account with the new payment and Feb payment would be $2200.
Maybe because we were already in a 0% payback and the updated payment amount didn't change that?
Either way, I can relax a bit more now and wait for June to come!

[dmc-2008]

Maybe because you are so close! Whew! Thank goodness! Congrats!

[BKAttyMI]

It is typically not a good idea to contact the Trustee's office yourself, especially about late or missed payments. I've had debtor-clients call the Trustee's office just to "let them know" that they were going to try to catch up on their payments "soon", blah blah blah, only to have the Trustee file a Motion to Dismiss for non-payment the following day. If the debtor had contacted me first, we could have worked out a plan to save their case. Just so others know, this kind of thing isn't typical, at least with the Trustee's around here. Call your attorney first, if your attorney is no longer responding, get new counsel.