relocating and amending a chapt 13

[tictacsir]

I filed in Oct05, had my 341 in Dec05 and sat through the confirmation hearing in April of this year. I am now paying the bare minimum to my trustee since my income was very low. No problems however, it all went through as planned. Now, I am about to start a new job with a substantial pay increase (still only teacher's pay however), with doubled expenses, but I'm relocating 1200 miles from where I filed. I'm assuming when I report my new income the trustee is going to request an amendment. Do I use my old attorney or find one who is local? Are they going to transfer my case to a local trustee? The thought of having to go through all that crap again on top of the stress of starting a new job and dealing with a big move (assuming I manage to find an apartment that is willing to rent to me) is starting to become more than I can bear. Any encouraging words of advice are coveted.

[lrprn]

You can move without restriction during Ch 13 - just be sure notify your lawyer now about your intentions so he/she can notify the trustee and court about your change of location. Once the dust settles on your move and you know what your monthly expenses will be, your lawyer can go through the means test with you again to see if your added expenses even out with your added income and if an amended plan will need to be filed. If your trustee is one that requests to know about any change in income or just wants to know if you are going to make more than 10% of the gross income you filed with, be sure your lawyer shares that with your trustee as well.

One last caution - be certain that your lawyer and your trustee know your new address so that if you need to be notified about something, you are sure to receive it in the mail.

Wonderful news about your new teaching job! The Ch 13 stuff will all work out over the coming months. Just keep your lawyer in the loop about everything and make sure that he/she is following through making sure your trustee is in the loop at all times as well.

[tictacsir]

Thank you so much for that info. If I had any insight into the future I would have checked on all of that before I left, but I had no idea I'd be where I am now. I looked over my bk papers last night and apparently what I listed my income as when I filed was only $800 less than what I'm going to be making now. (I don't know what I was thinking because I included refund money from a student loan which I ended up losing after my bk was filed...) In addition to that, from the looks of it, the average apartment where I'm going to be living (I'm staying with family right now), is going to be twice what I was paying before. Plus gas prices are higher now, and so on... So it seems to me that if we spend alot of time trying to amend this plan it's just going to come out looking pretty much the same as the old one. I am going to call my lawyer anyway though, because you're right, they have no idea where I am right now. I hope she doesn't try to charge me too much to consult considering I gave her almost two grand the first time around and she sent a substitute in her place for my hearings

[SinkingFast]

Maybe give living there a month or 2 to see how it's gonna go financially. That will give you time to call the utilities and ask how much for former tenants bills averaged out to. Plus, you can save your receipts so you can show how much you're spending on food and such. New pay stubs with new deductions.

Once you're there for a bit, you'll have a better feel for whether or not you'll need your plan ammended. It might be that your new living costs will result in you paying less into your plan. If it looks like you're doing OK, and the Trustee doesn't say anything, then continue to fly under the radar like you have been.

Congrats and Good Luck with your new job!!