Weird situation for Chapter 13

[howie]

I am currently in process of filing chapter 13. My wife works for General Motors in Dayton Ohio. She currently makes good money which is why we will be in a 100% payback plan. The plant is closing in December of this year. She will get sub pay and unemployement for two years. After that, she most likely will not be able to find a job making anywhere near what she is making now. My lawyer says they cannot rework the chapter 13 I am in. I will have to stop paying and refile. Does this sound right? Seems if you income changes dramatically, you should be able to change your payment to reflect that. It will be impossible to make full payment when her sub pay benefits run out. Any comments?
Thanks in advance.

[rrockinggramma]

perhaps then you might qualify for a chapter 7 and can convert. You can dismiss and refile but it does cause other issues regarding the automatic stay etc but can be done.

[arkienurse]

I am currently in process of filing chapter 13. My wife works for General Motors in Dayton Ohio. She currently makes good money which is why we will be in a 100% payback plan. The plant is closing in December of this year. She will get sub pay and unemployement for two years. After that, she most likely will not be able to find a job making anywhere near what she is making now. My lawyer says they cannot rework the chapter 13 I am in. I will have to stop paying and refile. Does this sound right? Seems if you income changes dramatically, you should be able to change your payment to reflect that. It will be impossible to make full payment when her sub pay benefits run out. Any comments?
Thanks in advance.

Howie, you state that you are in the process of filing, have you actually filed yet? If not, I would hold off if I possibly could. And yes, they most certainly can rework your payment plan in most instances. Especially if your wife's pay coming in is drastically reduced.

[liz417]

Hi Howie and welcome to this form,

I agree with the previous posters, I would hold off filing until Dec (if you can). And yes, a ch 13 repayment plan can be amended if a change in income occurs. I think your attorney is just being lazy...I would drop him ASAP!

Good Luck!

[Flamingo]

Howie - what is going on in your situation is that a Chapter 13 cannot be based on events which have not yet occurred. Since your wife is not yet unemployed and it appears she is getting a package of some sort when the plant closes, I suggest you go over all this with your attorney and delay filing until you see what exactly encompasses your wife's severance package. Guessing doesn't work in this situation.

[howie]

Thanks for the responses. Some more information about the case, I actually retained lawyer in February. He has not yet filed. Not sure why the delay. He is supposed to be one of the best atty in southern Ohio for bankruptcy. I also make too much by myself to flip to a chapter 7. My wife will get sub pay and unemployement for two years which will be about 95% of what she makes now. The problem will be when it runs out in two years. Our incomes now puts us in a 100% repayment. In two years, it will be impossible to make that payment. That is when the atty said the trustee would not lower our payment. Does that sound correct? I would have to think a drastic change in income would have to affect what you can pay. But who knows with this stuff.

[NowImDownInIt]

I also think that you should consider that she has 2 years to find a job making close or equal to what she makes now. She has time to be picky. Who wants to be drawing unemployment and be unemployed for 2 years?