Car, Ch7 and Ch13

[Whatalife]

On Oct 10, 2005, my wife and I filed Ch7. After nearly 2 years of haggling with the US Trustee and lawyers, my wife finally got het Ch7, but my case was split aside and turned into a 100% Ch13. We had purchased a car in August of 2005 jointly financed through Citifinancial. We paid the mthly payments on time until June of 2006, then we stopped. We never re-affirmed the loan. I did try to contact them several times to reach some sort of reslution but tey said they will wait. Two months ago they filed an objection to my plan and filed a full claim, but never filed a claim against the wife (ex-wife now). I have put a provision to cam down and have agreed to pay the market value which is $10k lower than owed. I do not want to pay the remaining as they have failed to file a cliam against the co-signer when her Ch7 discharge had some asset to distribute. Also, they are the ones who waited and waited and never said anything about no payments being made.
Please advise as to my options or whether I am correct in just paying them the market value and not being responsible for anything else!?

[lrprn]

Please advise as to my options or whether I am correct in just paying them the market value and not being responsible for anything else!?

With a situation as complex as yours, you need sound legal advice from an experienced bankruptcy lawyer who is familiar with the practices and customs in your bk district to tell you whether you are correct or not. What does your Ch 13 lawyer say?

[Whatalife]

Well, our first lawyer ruined the whole case by not responding to US Trustee and getting them peeved to the point that we had to go through interrogation of 2004 meeting. I have been Pro Se and no lawyer wants the case.

[lrprn]

Well, our first lawyer ruined the whole case by not responding to US Trustee and getting them peeved to the point that we had to go through interrogation of 2004 meeting. I have been Pro Se and no lawyer wants the case.

I'm so sorry to hear that you have had lawyer problems, WAL. Going it alone pro se in this situation must be overwhelming. I wish I knew the answer to your original question about whether you can "cram down" the value of the car. I believe you can do this since you filed before Oct 17, 2005 - your converted Ch 13 will be considered old law which allows cram down of vehicle values to what they are actually worth no matter when the car was purchased. Wish I had an absolute answer for you, but I'm not that familiar with old law Ch 13. Hopefully one of our knowledgeable old case Ch 13 members will post their experiences cramming down vehicle values here for you.