Chapter 13 payment increase!

[shipo]

Our lawyer told us he "rarely ever saw" such a high unsecured petition amount ($134,000,$109,000 of which actually made it into the confirmed final amount) So he was trying to "shame" us about the CCs used to fix up a money pit that we lost 100K on. (See my many posts about how we landed in BK13!)
Well, those of us caught in this quagmire can only hope it all ends with the 60th payment!

LOLz, your attorney needs to get out more, I had over a quarter of a million in unsecured.

[sophieanne]

Lol shipo - I was going to suggest your attorney must be using some of Colorado’s finest products. I too had a very high unsecured amount.

[justbroke]

My unsecured amount was significant and was a few hundreds of thousands. I almost exceeded the Chapter 13 limit. That would have put me in a Chapter 11.

[Witchywitch]

NoMoney30, if it's any consolation,we are in the tail end process of a contested BK13 payment increase which likely now will include lawyer fees paid outside the plan (otherwise we would probably have to pay as much as the original modification amount. Then what's the point of objecting at all?)
Although I fully commiserate with your struggle, I am relieved that others seem to be getting the shaft as well! Remember misery loves company LOL! Good luck!
For some on these forums, BK13 is paradise, for others it's Hades incarnate.
Witchywitch, I'm sorry you appear to have such a wretched lawyer. Our attorney ,all faults aside, does reply and never really ignores us!
Your payment is certainly more than we could ever pay- our mortgage is $2400 alone ! By contrast we can't even pay back 50% of the confirmed claims- we're at about 35%+ .We would have to let the house go in foreclosure and live on the street to pay that!
I do hope it all works out somehow for you and you are able to finish this harsh 5 years sentence. Best of luck in making it through!

Thank you!

It is very disappointing to have a lawyer who does not even communicate. I have series of e-mails unanswered. Still didn't hear anything after we received the confirmation. No call. No e-mail.

We have 4 more years in this BK jail.

Trying to keep it positive for the kids.. I am not at all for government handouts but hopefully they would pass the second stimulus so we would have a little bit of cushion just incase.

Good luck to all of us!

[justbroke]

Witchywitch I hid it from the kids for all 5 years. They never knew the difference. And we did things, and had annual passes to various central Florida theme parks (including the WDW, SeaWorld, and Busch Gardens). I had to shuffle priorities to do that, but created an interesting environment for the children.

Movie night and "Make Your Own Pizza" night were their favorites.

I would say "let's to the Park" and they would know it would be some theme park. (Leveraged offers from SeaWorld and Busch where they'd give a $10 coupon per passholder for food. Would park and eat at the park for free while having fun.)

Little adventures. Worked out well, but it takes serious thought and ability to be flexible. We still went to the movies, but only maybe every other month. Still did activities.

In fact, I think that having children can give you more wiggle room in the budget than being married without children. The worse situation, for Chapter 13, is probably being single as one would have the "smallest" of allowed expenses.

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

[shipo]

justbroke, my situation was the same, errr, but different. When I filed my wife and I had been separated for about 18 months, our son had joined the Navy and our daughter had a year left in high school. Given I was helping support both my wife and daughter, and was able to show a history of doing so, even though I had a moderately high income and was on my own and had no car payment, a laughably inexpensive apartment, and virtually no other expenses beyond food, utilities, clothing, car repair, and commute expenses, the support I provided to my wife and daughter gave me a lot of wiggle room.

As for the kids, yeah, they both knew I had filed for a Chapter 13, and in many ways, it was a relief to them when I did.

[justbroke]

For those that are otherwise "single," being separated (and/or married) with dependent children certainly takes the sting from the abysmal allowances for a single person.

I remember when I made it to management (at an extremely large company with 700,000 employees) and moved into the upper tax brackets. I was single at the time. I did not like my paycheck! I questioned taxes, in general, and why a single person -- healthy, no vehicle, no kids in school, no kids -- would be penalized for being single. As an older adult, I do realize where my tens of thousands in taxes go each year, but when I was 19 and making $$$ I was not happy.

I think of it as the same for a single person in bankruptcy. The sticker shock can be devastating.

[Witchywitch]

Witchywitch I hid it from the kids for all 5 years. They never knew the difference. And we did things, and had annual passes to various central Florida theme parks (including the WDW, SeaWorld, and Busch Gardens). I had to shuffle priorities to do that, but created an interesting environment for the children.

Movie night and "Make Your Own Pizza" night were their favorites.

I would say "let's to the Park" and they would know it would be some theme park. (Leveraged offers from SeaWorld and Busch where they'd give a $10 coupon per passholder for food. Would park and eat at the park for free while having fun.)

Little adventures. Worked out well, but it takes serious thought and ability to be flexible. We still went to the movies, but only maybe every other month. Still did activities.

In fact, I think that having children can give you more wiggle room in the budget than being married without children. The worse situation, for Chapter 13, is probably being single as one would have the "smallest" of allowed expenses.

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Our children does not know.

They are still in grade school and does not have any worries. I have a $25 a week Christmas savings so at least they would still have "Santa gift" and parents gifts.

There would be no vacation for us probably for 5 years.. lol

[louie123]

LOLz, your attorney needs to get out more, I had over a quarter of a million in unsecured.

I have over $400K in unsecured. 🙃

[underh20]

Witchywitch In fact, I think that having children can give you more wiggle room in the budget than being married without children. The worse situation, for Chapter 13, is probably being single as one would have the "smallest" of allowed expenses.

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Agree with what you said.

Our trustee was heartless, fortunately the judge was sympathetic to families with children. At the time we filed, the children were going to private school and we were contributing to their college plans. Trustee wants to take these amounts and give it to creditors, our lawyer objected and the judge let us kept it. Fast forward to today, and the college fund was over funded. 🙂 We got really lucky!

Sorry we got sidetracked, but wishing the original poster the best of luck🙏, it will work out well in the end. Just hang in there