Chapter 13 it is then!!!??

[mcordry64]

I went to see my attorney for the initial consultation, I just assumed that I would be looking at a Chapter 7 and didn't even consider a 13. I had a previous chapter 7 completed 8 years ago, so I knew kind of what to expect. But when she said Chapter 13, I had to get my mind around that. I have a house that has some equity in it, and she said she didn't want me to lose my house, and I completely agree with her. So because I have no experience with a 13, I thought I could come on here and look at some threads and ask some questions. Of course, the threads I have looked at so far, are not good experiences, so they make me a little nervous. Has anyone done a Chapter 13 and it go smoothly? Has anyone filed a 13 and didn't have to pay 100% back? Has a trustee ever denied a Chapter 13 because they didn't think you could afford the payment? My attorney made is seem like a fairly simple process (as simple as bankruptcy can be), I know it isn't pain free, but I just don't want to be stressed for the next 5 years waiting for the trustee to decide I need to pay more money than they thought I would. Any information would be helpful.

[shipo]

I had a relatively pain-free Chapter 13; a few comments (not necessarily in order):

• My plan was for less than 100% of my unsecured debt
• I didn't have a house (lost it about a year before I filed)
• My monthly payment was proposed by my attorney and set around the time of my 341 meeting
• The only time I had to pay above my monthly payment is when I had a large tax return where I had to pay the Trustee everything above $1,250.
• Tax returns and what happens to the money varies by locality, some Trustees demand all tax returns, some demand the portion above some preset limit, and others allow you to keep the full return regardless of how large it might be.
• Over the course of my bankruptcy, I got five merit pay increases, seven bonuses, and one promotion; my income during my final year of bankruptcy was roughly 39% higher than it was during my first year.
• As alluded to above, even though I had some good income growth during the sixty-month period, the Trustee never asked for anything above the original payment.
• With the above point in mind, I aggressively followed the principle of "Don't Poke the Bear"; this means I didn't do anything to bring my case to the Trustee's attention. Case in point, during my fourth year my car effectively corroded away too the point it would require $5,000 to pass inspection for another year. I could have asked my Trustee for permission to apply for a loan for a new(er) car, but opted against that and scraped together my meager "rainy day" savings and bought a new(er) car for cash, and yes, I was on an effective "beans and franks" diet for the next couple of months as I was barely able to make my rent payment.