Chapter 13 final year

[Rabbit12]

Hi, everyone so glad i found this forum you guy's are awesome. I'm in my final year of chapter 13 bankruptcy, However I'm afraid that trustee or court will dismissed my case beforehand.Last spring I received a $1700 bonus from my work that i was required to turn over to trustee (creditor's) Problem is, i never told the trustee or my Attorney about it and spent the funds on car and my son needed help. I know i should have told my Attorney, the last 4 year's i have been so broke and frustrated
now I'm worried cause I'm so close to the end that if they find out my case will be dismissed.Should i contact them and let them know about last year's bonus.My son
can get me a cash advance on his credit card to give to trustee. Please Help!

[justbroke]

Contact your attorney. There are ways that you can actually keep bonuses and tax refunds and that is through a motion to keep tax refund (or other property). The process is specifically so that you can use "extra" income for surprises such as car issues, home issues, and other issues.

Please, speak with your attorney!

[Rabbit12]

Thank's for reply justbroke, i will contact attorney. Has anyone had case thrown out, if so what happen's like when chapter 13 cases are dismissed and creditors sue you do they come after you for what you still owe them only or do they add back interest and other fee's ?

[sophieanne]

Just curious if you're in a 100 percent payback case, or less??? When my husband received a bonus we were in a 100% payback we had to report it, but didn't have to hand it over.
Our attorney said it would have had to have been around 10,000 for the trustee to be interested. That was our case, as Just Broke said speak to your attorney, you don't know what the response is until you ask. Everyone jumps to the worst conclusion and sometimes that's just not the case. Good luck!

[justbroke]

Has anyone had case thrown out, if so what happen's like when chapter 13 cases are dismissed and creditors sue you do they come after you for what you still owe them only or do they add back interest and other fee's ?

I can answer this.

I have had a motion to dismiss for failure to turnover tax refund. I already spent it, but on necessities (new refrigerator), and to deal with HOA violations. I did a motion to retain tax refund AFTER the fact and the Trustee was okay with it. They just asked that I notify them before I spend the refund in the future, but it seems to be a common thing. The key is that you let your attorney know when you are having issues especially when it comes to income. You should also let them know that you need to perform repairs and that you would like to keep your bonus and/or tax refund. I have seen several cases where, at least, my judge bent over backwards (and so did the Trustee) to keep people in their Chapter 13 case. Remember, the Trustee and the Court are both unsuccessful if you're not successful!

As for creditors coming after you... oh yes they will. Most Chapter 13 debt is actually sold to third party junk debt buyers, known as JDBs. They love suing people and they buy the debt for two reasons; one, in case you fail and the case is dismissed so they can sue you and two, that there is "some" distribution in the case.

As you speculate, these JDBs and original creditors continue to accrue all interest, late fees and attorney fees the entire time they are enjoined from collecting (because the automatic stay prevents them from attempting to collect). They will gladly tack on a ridiculous amount of fees for which they are so entitled to collect under the provisions of your contract with them.

[Rabbit12]

Thank's justbroke & sophieanne i will be paying back about 60percent when all is said and done great advice.
Thank You!