Weird Problem

[Skouris]

Hi. I am in the middle of a strange problem, and I'm not sure how it's going to affect me, if at all. I am at the tail end of my 36-month Chapter 13 plan. The term was increased to 44 months, but all of my creditors have been paid (39%) and I am waiting for a hearing in December, at which time hopefully the plan term will be reduced back to 36 months. My car lease was paid through the plan, and the lease was up in August. I turned my car in to the dealer two weeks before the end of the lease. A month or so ago I received a motion from the attorney for GMAC asking for Relief from Stay because I had remained in possession of my vehicle. I sent the motion to my attorney, and he said it would be taken care of...not to worry. A while later I got another letter from GMAC's attorney stating that no objections had been filed and requesting that the Relief from Stay order be entered. I sent that to my attorney. He said the same thing...it's being taken care of, blah blah blah. So yesterday I received the order. It states:

Upon consideration of the evidence presented, the Court finds that GMAC is the owner of the <car info>; that the Debtor's obligation to GMAC exceeds the value of the vehicle; and that GMAC should be permitted to repossess and resell the vehicle and to terminate the Lease Agreement. It is therefore ORDERED that the Motion is granted and that the stay afforded by <legal stuff> be and hereby is modified to permit GMAC to repossess and resell the vehicle and to terminate the Lease Agreement.

This is so crazy. I'm sure they probably wasted quite a bit of time and money getting this order. Why didn't my attorney fix it? Anyway, it sounds to me like the Stay is only being lifted for GMAC. Is that true? Will this have any bad consequences for me? Obviously, they're not going to have much luck repossessing the car.

My other question is...now that the Stay has been lifted for GMAC, would it be all right for me to contact this attorney myself and explain the situation to him? I didn't do it before because I thought I should go through my attorney. I am thinking I should send him the paper that I was given when I turned my car in. It lists the address of the dealership. I would like to say, "If you want to repossess the vehicle, here is the address where it can be found. Good luck with that."

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Skouris

[MomIcantFindmy]

It won't be to hard for them to find the car.......GMAC should be able to run the VIN and find out they already own it and it is sitting on their lot.

The only concern I would have is that they may have already sold it to someone else or another dealer. I would not want the new owner or other dealer comming after me.

Forget this attorney, sounds like he did nothing for you. Unless your attorney can provide you copies of correspondence he wrote, seek a different attorney to write a letter for you explaining the circumstances. You should pay under $100 for a letter. Also forward the letter and copies of your paperwork to your trustee.

That is what I would do.

[Minnymouth]

Hold on a second,
You have already turned the auto into a dealership to notify GMAC that it has been returned, RIGHT????

If so, the "stay" has been lifted by Court Order for GMAC only, allowing them to resell the auto.

Your attorney did everything correctly, GMAC has their leased auto returned and all paperwork is signed by the Court, sealed, and delivered.

This Court Order has nothing else to do with the rest of your case. The issue about the auto is OVER. I'm sure the dealership notified GMAC that they have the auto and you received a document showing that you turned it in.

You said your payment plan had been extended to 44 months..... why?? And you have a hearing in Dec. What is the hearing about???

[Minnymouth]

MommyICan'tFindMy,

We appreciate all member postings and responses to threads.

HOWEVER, be sure to read the posting thoroughly and understand the situation at hand before posting comments. We don't want to confuse anyone with our responses.

When Skouris turned his leased auto back into a dealership, GMAC followed proper guide lines (during a Chapter 13) asking to have the "automatic stay" lifted so they could take possession of the auto and resell it. It has to go thru the Court system and be approved by the Judge. The Court grants permission to "lift the stay" for GMAC ONLY, so they are authorized to take possession of the returned auto and sell it.

GMAC and Skouris's attorney followed the correct procedures....

[Skouris]

So you think that everything is OK? It's just the way the Motion was worded..."Debtor has remained in possession of the vehicle". Is it always handled like this when a leased car is turned in during a Chapter 13? If that's the case, it would have been nice if my attorney would have explained that to me rather than just saying...it's being taken care of. I guess that's too much to ask.

Everything was going along fine with my Chapter 13 until last year, when my first mortgage was increased by nearly $100/month. I contacted my attorney about it, and he filed a Motion to amend my plan. At first, he tried to get the percentage paid to unsecured creditors reduced. Apparently that didn't work, because the next thing I received was an amended plan stating that the term was increased to 44 months to allow for the higher mortgage payments. For unknown reasons, the payments to my mortgage company were never increased. More than a year goes by, I'm at the end of my 36 months, and all of a sudden...bam. The higher mortgage payment is finally entered and my plan term is increased to 44 months. By this time, my unsecured creditors have all been paid their percentage, and my attorney has filed a Motion to stop the wage garnishment. I have my whole paycheck back, and I start paying the mortgages myself. Of course, the first mortgage is in arrears because the payments have never been increased. So I send in a large check to bring my mortgage current. I didn't want to have any problems with the mortgage.

Now all of my balances are showing 0 owed, but the plan term is 44 months and the plan base is over $10,000 more than the amount I have paid. There is a hearing scheduled for December, at which time I believe that my attorney will be requesting for the plan term to be reduced back to 36 months. My car lease is over, my unsecured creditors have been paid, and I am paying the mortgages myself. I sent my attorney proof that the mortgage is current. Hopefully there won't be any problems and I will get my discharge shortly after the hearing.

I don't really understand why they won't just discharge my case now, since everyone has been paid and it has been 36 months. Does anyone have any thoughts about that?

Thanks!
Skouris