Chapter 13 payments and overtime

[Countryside]

I recently filled for this. Last year was the most I made in my career. They based my payments for 3 years considering my overtime. Since then i have only been getting paid for 40-45 hours.
can they base your payments with overtime? Which is never guaranteed.
also, why can’t they stretch out the payments for 5 years instead of 3 years?

[justbroke]

Welcome to BKForum.

Please immediately speak with your attorney and provide paystubs for the past 6-8 weeks. You must show that the circumstances have changed.

As you know, or now realize, a Chapter 13 payment is based on looking at your last 6-months of income, multiplying it by 2, and then dividing by 12 to come up with your "current monthly income" (CMI). In some cases that is not a good averaged. Now, they can base it on overtime which is consistent and is why they use averages. I would document precisely that your overtime has been on a decline and that you have, over at least 2 months, had less overtime.

A Chapter 13 only works for someone with regular and consistent income. You should work with your attorney and not only explain this, but demonstrate that your overtime has been drastically reduced over the past several months. Just showing one or two paystubs won't be enough. You have to show that it has been for some period of time and the overtime is unlikely to reoccur.

Since the Lanning decision, the Court can look forward but you need to have precise documentation as to why your overtime income will not continue as it had. You may be able to provide documentary evidence such as several months of lower pay, a letter from your employer that overtime is reduced companywide, or other evidence which shows that you will not make the same overtime.