question on chapter 13 payments

[daisey]

If it is determined that we have 1600 of income to pay each month and hubby gets paid 26 times a year would we mutiply the 1600 by 12 and divide it by the number of times he gets paid a year..........like 1600 x 12 = 19200 / 26 pay periods = 738 withdraw per check. I know she said we had to pay ever 2 weeks if not then we will have some monthes where we will pay 800 3 times.

I am so full of questions I just want to make sure we will be able to survive 13 as oposed to surviving being landlords - I hate the second more then the 13 I think. lol

I know the difference between 800 and 738 is not much but every lil bit helps, on some months the difference will pay our electric bill. And for those months that I do not work wow is it gonna make a difference. I don't work for 3 months a year to the tune of 400 less of income. Boy what fun those months are gonna be.

[lrprn]

If it is determined that we have 1600 of income to pay each month and hubby gets paid 26 times a year would we mutiply the 1600 by 12 and divide it by the number of times he gets paid a year..........like 1600 x 12 = 19200 / 26 pay periods = 738 withdraw per check. I know she said we had to pay ever 2 weeks if not then we will have some monthes where we will pay 800 3 times.

Daisey, my husband and I also both get paid every two weeks. When our bk lawyer filled out our Ch 13 forms, to get the average monthly income for each of us, our gross pay every two weeks was multiplied by 26, and then divided by 12.

We don't pay a different amount to the trustee on our three-paycheck months that come twice a year. It's assumed that the "extra income" from our three-paycheck months is carried over to cover the difference between our actual and average income in the other ten normal two-paycheck months.

I'm not sure why your bk lawyer is making this more complex than it has to be. Your average monthly income on your Schedule I should account for the known four-month no paycheck period for you as well. Please ask your lawyer to explain his/her reasoning for calculating your income this way to you again.

[daisey]

I don't think you understand what I am saying............when they figure you average monthly income they figure it at 13 pay checks for 6 months so wouldnt it also figure that the payments would be figured at 13 paychecks other wise you would have to pay 800 per check 2 times a month. If that is the case on the months when you receive 3 checks you are infact paying 2400 for that month instead of the 1600 of disposable income your schedules predicted you had to pay. Does that make sense. I don't think my lawyer is making it at all difficult I believe she is trying to make it fit an actual budget as well as possible. If you have to figure your total disposable income for 6 months at 13 checks it only makes sense that it is divided in to 13 payments over that period of time.

[SamanthaJones]

Daisy- I think you are lost between two shores.

(That's a Neil Diamond tune~) I suggest you start all over from the beginning, think about that rental you hate, and go from there. From what I know, and from what I think I know, you are clueless about the chapters and how to proceed......

[lrprn]

If that is the case on the months when you receive 3 checks you are infact paying 2400 for that month instead of the 1600 of disposable income your schedules predicted you had to pay. Does that make sense. ... If you have to figure your total disposable income for 6 months at 13 checks it only makes sense that it is divided in to 13 payments over that period of time.

Daisey, Ch 13 plans are set up by the courts to make one payment to the Ch 13 trustee every calendar month that is due on the same date every month for every year you are in the plan. The amount due to the trustee each month is usually the same from start to finish, although in some unusual situations the Ch 13 trustee may agree to set a certain payment amount for a year or two to cover payments on specific secured debts which, as they are paid in full and drop off, then increase the monthly Ch 13 payment owed to the trustee accordingly for the remainder of the plan.

Now it's possible that your bankruptcy district and/or the trustee that will be assigned to your case may allow some unusual arrangement around the number of payments and changes of monthly due dates to allow for payments every four weeks rather than once a month. If that's the case, then that is likely unique to your district and is not how Ch 13 payment plans typically work in other bk districts in the US.

Since the payment schedule your lawyer is proposing isn't what the rest of us here in Ch 13 have experienced (even those of us who are paid every two weeks), it's hard to know if what your lawyer is proposing is feasible or if your trustee will accept a Ch 13 payment plan that won't fit his/her standard accounting system built on once-a-month payments very well.

[daisey]

They way the set up our payments is they are divided by pay checks. We have to send in a payment out of every check. So every 2 weeks there will be a payment so on months where we have an extra check we also make a payment. It is not just one payment a month I wish it were, then on those months with extra checks we would truley have an extra check.

For example:

1600 a month equals 19200 per year to the trustee
with a payment out of every check for 26 pay periods that would be a payment of 738.46 per pay. Which on the months that we had 2 checks would come up to about 1476.92 and on the month with 3 checks it would be 2215.38 for that month. so we would have 10 months of paying 1476.46 and 2 of 2215.38 for a total of 19195.36 almost the 19200.00 that was figured at 1600 per month which explains why my attorney added a extra 10 per month to the payment.

Samantha we are all here with questions and since each trustee does things a lil different I do believe it is going to vary by individual. Just because some courts dont do it the way you presume it should be done doesnt meant that anyone is ignorant as you assume. We are all here comparing situtations and trying to figure our own out as we go. We are trying to prepair ourselves for what is going to come, and since the courts are impossible to figure out. I don't see the problem with comparing our situtations to see what others think. From the pm's you sent I thought you were more grounded but now I see you are as rude as others have indicated.

[lrprn]

They way the set up our payments is they are divided by pay checks. We have to send in a payment out of every check. So every 2 weeks there will be a payment so on months where we have an extra check we also make a payment. It is not just one payment a month I wish it were, then on those months with extra checks we would truley have an extra check.

Ah...your trustee must be one of those that requires payments be made directly to him/her from your bank or your employers. It's not typical to do this every paycheck - usually the trustee wants the money out in one lump sum once a month from one of the two or three paychecks, but perhaps this is your district trustee's preferred way to be paid. Or perhaps he/she is willing to accommodate payments that aren't on the usual once-a-month schedule.

We're fortunate in that our Ch 13 trustee allows us to pay him with a personal check that my husband drops off at his office every month. A Ch 13 trustee's allowed payment methods is yet another one of those many practices that can vary widely between districts and trustees...sigh....

[lrprn]

From what I know, and from what I think I know, you are clueless about the chapters and how to proceed......

Samantha, this is an inappropriate comment. Please refrain from calling other members negative names such as "clueless" - it's against our forum rules. Think whatever you please - posting it in writing is entirely different matter.

[daisey]

I am aware of the different chapters its all the fine details that I question. I believe with the different ways the trustees do things that it is not only I that have these questions. They seem to all have twisted the regulations to work differently but if in fact you only pay your disposable income I believe the way my attorney is doing it and the way our trustee has it set up is probably right to acomidate a budget best as possible - leave a lil more on 2 pay months and take a lil more to acomidate on 3 pay months.

[arkienurse]

I am aware of the different chapters its all the fine details that I question. I believe with the different ways the trustees do things that it is not only I that have these questions. They seem to all have twisted the regulations to work differently but if in fact you only pay your disposable income I believe the way my attorney is doing it and the way our trustee has it set up is probably right to acomidate a budget best as possible - leave a lil more on 2 pay months and take a lil more to acomidate on 3 pay months.

Daisey, think of it like this( I get paid every 2 weeks also)- I think of it as making an extra payment, and therefore getting out faster. Technically not true since they figured the payments for every 2 weeks, but it makes me feel better. Also I look forward to those extra pay months because it means I have an extra check, and the budget is easier that month.

( and I wish some of the payments came out of my dh's check as he is the starting snowball of this downhill roll)