Will this count as disposable income?

[nsupanda]

I pay a loan that is in my mother's name every month. She took out the loan for me a few years ago to help me consolidate a few bills. I am going to a lawyer soon to talk about filing Chapter 13. Will they consider this one of my "necessary expenses" when figuring my disposable income since it's not technically a loan in my name? I have never missed one of these loan payments and never intend to (she's my mom, why would I do that to her?). However, I'm afraid that if they don't count this as one of my expenses that it will hurt my payment plan.

Anyone know?

[lrprn]

I pay a loan that is in my mother's name every month. She took out the loan for me a few years ago to help me consolidate a few bills. I am going to a lawyer soon to talk about filing Chapter 13. Will they consider this one of my "necessary expenses" when figuring my disposable income since it's not technically a loan in my name?

Since the loan isn't in your name - it's in your mom's - then you can't list the original loan as yours. However, if your mom puts together official loan terms in writing and has you sign it and it's notarized making it a legal contract, it's quite possible that your trustee may allow the payments as a legitimate expense.

This is a great question to ask during your 3-4 free initial bk lawyer interviews.

[justbroke]

I'll offer a similar but stronger opinion than lrprn. It is not your loan. It's also an unsecured loan. At best, you could list your mother as a creditor, but she'd be an unsecured creditor. This would never be considered an "expense" since it's an unsecured loan. Your mother, just like the other unsecured creditors, would receive a pro rata share from the unsecured creditor pool. This could be anything from 0% to 100% based on your projected disposable income over the course of your plan.

In other words, you can't single out this account or payment on this account as an "expense" and paid 100% during the life of the plan. It's not entitled to priority or any other status allowing it to be paid at 100%.

As lrprn adds, make sure you ask during your consultations how you should approach this matter. Personally, I see no way to continue making such payments, unless you end up in a 100% plan.