Trying to amend plan - wish me luck

[jwbbx]

Gee,
From what I've seen on here about attorneys yours is acting really nicely by exchanging all these emails for you to gauge the feasibility of your plan modification before he sees any more payment. I hope mine is as forthcoming so far into the plan!

[krielly]

The attorney will only file if he beleives the trustee is on board. Thus the tentative I & J to the trustee to get his opinion....

[poor@budgeting]

So you are going ahead and hiring the atty for 1k based on the trustee's initial response?

[krielly]

Update .........
Our attorney sent an email the trustee to get his position on our proposal, before actually committing to $1000 in attorney's fees, just to have him reject it out flat. This was his response:
"I think the debtors have the right to amend their plan based on changes to their financial situation, but that the plan, as amended, still has to meet all of the confirmation criteria, including the best interests of creditors test and the disposable income test. It is not clear to me exactly what modified plan is being proposed and I do not think it should be up to me to propose one. I would be happy to look at a proposed summary of numbers for a proposed modified plan, if you like."
We just sent him a "tentative I & J". The attorney plans to file the amendment request by Monday, as he will be in court for the next 2 days.

[krielly]

Thanks. Not sure if it will fly or not, but I figured what the heck. It's worth a shot

The attorney is trying to get a sense from the trustee as to whether he would agree to it or not before we file a petition to amend. No point in paying $1000 in attorney's fees if he is going to object.

We are all in the wrong profession, aren't we? Should have been an attorney....it was actually my dream when I was younger. Oh well............

[poor@budgeting]

Good Luck. Keep us posted.

[krielly]

Nope, sorry if I wasn't clear. No Chapt 7 involved in any way. We're in a 13, seeking to reduce the plan payment to allow for a vehicle payment.

[poor@budgeting]

No not bitter at all, I apologize if it sounded that way; I just did not understand the logic. I am reading this as, reduce the payment or chap7 will be an option?

[krielly]

We filed old law - no means test was involved......
In theory - we both need dependable vehicles in order to get to work, and support our 13 payment.
Wow..........you sound a bit bitter about this.............or am I taking you wrong?

[poor@budgeting]

Why would the trustee agree to a payment reduction while only benefiting the debtor?
It seems that you would not qualify for Chap 7 anyway (means test & assets).

[krielly]

Well, I may be going on on a limb here, but what the heck.

We are 32 mos into our 60 mos 13 (old law). Our payment is $680, and we had around 15K in non-exempt assets.

My husband traded from his 95 truck to a 04 truck back in November - payment stayed the same as a truck we had surrendered while in the middle of the plan the previous year, so the budget remained unchanged, and the trustee approved the purchase.

That leaves my car. It's a 99 Altima, with 107K on it. Runs and rides great (for now). It probably would get me through the plan, but I got thinking.........

We have asked the attorney to pose the question to the trustee if he will be amenable to our lowering our plan payment to $345. This will allow room in our budget for a $335/mo car payment. Everything I have learned on this forum has helped me tremendously in my analysis. Too bad I didn't find it until after we had filed. Anyhow.........amending the plan will still provide approx $1500 more to unsecureds than filing a 7 would have, which under old law is the requirement. (13 had to provide as least as much as a 7 would after asset liquidation).

I completed amended I & J schedules, and while our income has gone up, so have expenses (gas, heating oil, etc) so I think everything I've listed is still quite reasonable. Food was a big jump. Family of 3 had originally been listed as $400/mo. Like I said, I didn't know a thing about 13 when we filed. I've re-set that to $600 mos. (How anyone can feed a family of 3 for 400/mo which includes a 16 year old growing boy is beyond me)

I even called our current lender yesterday (for the truck) and did an application over the phone. She called me back later on and said we were approved - all we needed was the approval of the trustee. Get this, she even said we could be approved WITHOUT the plan payment reduction. Of course, I'm NOT going there. Not when I don't currently have a payment, and my car will get me through the plan more than likely.

It seems to me (if we can get this approved) that this situation is a no brainer. If I can reduce my plan payment by the amount of the car payment $335, then over 28 mos, those dollars are going to equity in a vehicle, vs to the unsecureds. At the end of our plan, I've got some equity in a vehicle, at no extra expense out of my current budget. I essentially will have diverted $9380 from the unsecureds to a vehicle.

In addition, I'll have pretty much cut my remaining 13 balance in half. This means it will be easier to try and pay the plan off early after we hit the 36 mos mark and can send extra $.

Everybody keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!!!!!

PS: Of course, the downside is, this will cost me $1000 in attorney's fees, but I'll still be about 8K to the good, the way I see it.

K