Crash and burn

[bentbad]

Today I called the law office, they said that going over my case they now think my plan payment will be a lot more than what we had been lead to believe from the beginning. Filing was supposed to happen today.I had to tell them hold up and let me think about this. So, we are behind on our mortgage, they were telling us all all of that would be included in BK, so we pretty much thought that this would be the way to come up with the money to pay the lawyer fees. Stupid.
I suppose if I called my creditors and said " you know, I was just joking about that bankruptcy thing" they will pounce on my exposed neck so to speak.
Payment started at around $300.00, now $450.00, and their saying "if the trustee goes for it" because I have more disposable income that he might go after. Just don't seem like we have all the money they find. my question to the lawyer is will the trustee go after more, but the answer was vague, "depends what mood he's in".
What a mess.

[MajorMike]

Your home would be included for only $450???
Mine is $825 and that doesn't even include a home! I'd kill for $600!! LOL

[lrprn]

Today I called the law office, they said that going over my case they now think my plan payment will be a lot more than what we had been lead to believe from the beginning.

Unfortunately not unusual. Until the Means Test and Schedules are completely filled out and your disposable income is actually calculated, anything before that is just an educated guess.

my question to the lawyer is will the trustee go after more, but the answer was vague, "depends what mood he's in".
What a mess.

Unfortunately that is often true as well. Trustees have a great deal of leeway for how they approach cases and here in the forums we've seen how differently inidividual trustees react to the same situations across the country. Hope you glide in under the radar of yours.

[Flamingo]

You know, if you really have to file BK you really have to file BK. There is no guessing game about it and really no other way out 99% of the time as we all find out. Chapter 13's are difficult and your attorney will work to ensure that payment can be made by you so your Plan will not fail (many do). When you first meet with your attorney, he/she usually gives a ballpark figure as to what your Plan might be. When all your paperwork is submitted and reevaluated, it can change and your attorney will do his/her best to keep that Plan payment within reason for you.

[MajorMike]

How much are you paying per month NOW to your creditors, etc. It HAS to be less in a 13 for the most part.

[$$only4ever]

It is all about compromise on both sides before your plan is approved. Our payment went up too. Our lawyer had prepared us for that, but thanks to our attorney, the payment was 50% less than it could have been. My payment ended up being $500 per month and the trustee initially wanted $1200 per month. Trust me, I was happy with the payment I got.

[bentbad]

The home payment is not included in the plan. Just talked to the lawyer...payment asked for will be about 450.00, but she does say trustee could demand 600.00 based on income and expenses. My vehicle payment is included in this. Even at this it would indeed be less then I was trying to pay and those were hardship payments when they accepted less.
We fell behind with CC's when my work slowed down, and wife was still in school. Now we are both working and could pay the minimum on cc's and you all know where that gets you: nowhere.
We have had two years of being afraid to answer the phone. I wake up each morning thinking about my debt load. So, I told her to file, I hope it's not another in a long line of mistakes but for the moment I feel relieved.
Thanks for the support.

[MajorMike]

Then the $600 shouldn't be hard to do right? It includes your car and it's alot less then before....
I'm confused?!

[bentbad]

Sorry to be confusing.
$600 would not be easy to do, but not impossible. I was really just freaking out to begin with because the initial conversations were $300 and now $450 with $600 being possible.
That's a pretty big range in my eye's and I felt for a moment we had a "bait and switch" thing going on.