Questions about Amended Plan and Attorney dealings..

[pirateninja]

How easy is it, generally speaking, to file and receive approval for an amended plan?
I'm currently on a 100% pay back plan. Bi-weekly paycheck garnishments.
I have 2 secured debts: a vehicle and some furniture. All other debt is unsecured.
It turns out the payments may be too high and my plan may not end up being successful.

I have an attorney and unfortunately there was some confusion regarding my pay stubs that led to a miscalculation in my plan. Thus my income was shown on my filing to be higher than it is.
My payments as it is proposed now are simply more than I can handle and I thought all of this was figured out.
I caught all of this after my 341 meeting.
I also have a live-in girlfriend and he included her in my paperwork for income that goes towards a portion of the bills.
He also overestimated her income while not taking into account the information I already provided him that shows she has her own debts.
I told him before my 341 meeting that while I haven't received any official documentation, I was expecting a pay increase soon. He said that shouldn't be a problem.

Now when I tell him all of this, he wants to wait until I receive my 1st (next) pay stub showing my pay increase to see how taxes, withholdings change, etc. before he files any formal amendments. He says the adjustment may be offset but could still be a considerable difference than my current plan.
He does ask for recent pay stubs for my girlfriend and copies of statements for her creditors, including a list of her expenses that weren't on the schedule J. I gave him this information at the start of our business so I sent the same copies and an updated budget.
I also asked him about just seeing what an amended plan would look like with the information I've already provided him. I advise that I don't want to feel like I'm being penalized for getting a pay increase when the data I'm giving right now should be sufficient. i.e. My current pay was already miscalculated and I would rather we file an amendment with the current rate, not wait until my increase.
He mentioned paying the creditors in full and this may be a moot exercise once the claims deadline passes. His reasoning is that if everything comes in under what we estimated for total payback, then it would be less than we proposed in the plan.

I know the numbers need work, the current payments need to be lowered and everything recalculated. I need some flexibility on this.

Am I wanting too much here or should I feel like he's wanting 100% to be paid back to creditors and delaying a response to me?
I want to let him him do his job but I want to make sure I'm doing my due diligence and not being talked in circles.

[LadyInTheRed]

It makes sense to wait for your next paycheck to calculate the new plan payment. The trustee will probably ask for your most recent pay stub and insist any increase in income be taken into account. Any plan modification is based on current income. It would be a waste of time for your attorney to prepare a new plan without having all of the relevant information. Since you are in a 100% plan, wasting your attorney's time costs you money. Waiting until the claims bar date passes could result in a lower plan payment. So, it may be in your best interest to be patient.

He mentioned paying the creditors in full and this may be a moot exercise once the claims deadline passes. His reasoning is that if everything comes in under what we estimated for total payback, then it would be less than we proposed in the plan.

You are right that you should not let your attorney push you into a 100% plan if you do not have high enough disposable income to justify it. But the above comment doesn't suggest that is what he is doing. It sounds that he thinks your income is still high enough to pay 100% of all claims. When he finally does have a new plan, if the payment seems too high, look carefully at the income and expenses on which the plan is based and discuss specific places where you think there needs to be adjustments.

[pirateninja]

It makes sense to wait for your next paycheck to calculate the new plan payment. The trustee will probably ask for your most recent pay stub and insist any increase in income be taken into account. Any plan modification is based on current income. It would be a waste of time for your attorney to prepare a new plan without having all of the relevant information. Since you are in a 100% plan, wasting your attorney's time costs you money. Waiting until the claims bar date passes could result in a lower plan payment. So, it may be in your best interest to be patient.



You are right that you should not let your attorney push you into a 100% plan if you do not have high enough disposable income to justify it. But the above comment doesn't suggest that is what he is doing. It sounds that he thinks your income is still high enough to pay 100% of all claims. When he finally does have a new plan, if the payment seems too high, look carefully at the income and expenses on which the plan is based and discuss specific places where you think there needs to be adjustments.

Thanks for the information and putting it in perspective. I will definitely make sure to keep note of this when I speak with him again.
Appreciate the helpful info as always!