You have just filed a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and you probably have a lot
of questions. The following pamphlet is provided to you solely for the purpose
to introduce you to some of the important concepts and provide information
about common questions that arise in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Your attorney will
be your resource for any individual concerns, legal rights, or specific
questions about you particular situation. The Trustee’s office will attempt to
assist you with you plan but the Trustee is prohibited by law from giving
you legal advice.
The
filing of a Chapter 13 imposes a stay upon your creditors from collecting from
you directly. If any creditors attempt to contact you directly, inform them
that you have filed a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and refer them to your attorney.
Your Chapter 13 plan requires you to make regular
payments. Plan payments must be in the form of a cashier’s check or money
order. Our bank will not accept personal checks! All personal checks will be
returned. Your name and your
bankruptcy case number must be clearly written on the payment. Your first plan
payment is due 30 days after your bankruptcy plan is filed and a payment will
be due every month on that date thereafter. If timely payments are not made, we
will ask the Bankruptcy Court to dismiss your case.
We highly recommend
that you have your plan payments deducted from your paycheck. Persons that have
the payments deducted from their paychecks have a better chance of completing
their Chapter 13 plan. The Court may order payroll deductions if you fall
behind on your plan payments.
We
do not accept plan payments at this office. All payments must be mailed to:
Office
of the Chapter 13 Trustee
Please save all receipts from all payments that you send or your paycheck stubs if the payments are being deducted. Therefore, if there is any discrepancy, you will have a record of your payments and there will be a method to trace them.
3. Your Case Number
When your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy was filed, the Clerk assigned it a particular case number. This number is like an account number with our office. It must be on all payments, correspondence with our office. If you call our office, please have this number available.
4. Your Attorney
The scope of your attorney’s representation will be governed by whatever agreement the two of you have made. Make sure that you discuss whether additional legal services, which may be required during your plan, will be at an additional cost to you. Your attorney is there to answer any questions or concerns you have regarding your case. Your attorney is your legal advisor. The Trustee’ office will not give you any legal advice regarding your case.
5. Creditors
All creditors must file a proof of claim with the Bankruptcy Clerk in order to receive distributions from your Chapter 13 plan. Unsecured creditors have 90 days from the 341 meeting to file a claim. Governmental agencies have up to 180 days from the filing of the case to file a claim. A secured creditor may file a claim at any time. The Trustee will pay the creditor the amount that is listed on their claim. If you disagree with the amount claimed, you must notify your attorney.
Unless a claim is properly objected to, the amount on the claim will be paid. If you find a creditor that you forgot to include in your Bankruptcy, contact your attorney immediately. The Trustee’s office will send you a periodic report of disbursements to creditors. If you disagree with the disbursements, immediately contact your attorney.
You must notify the Trustee, your attorney and the Bankruptcy Clerk of any change of address. The notification must be in writing. Our address is:
Office of the Chapter 13 Trustee
7. Encountering Problems
Unexpected situations such as illness, loss of wages or unexpected expenses can effect your ability to comply with you plan. If you experience a problem making your plan payments, you must contact your attorney immediately. It may be possible for your attorney to make adjustments to your plan. It also may be possible for you to convert you case into a Chapter 7, which could afford you some relief. It is important to remember that the Trustee’s office has no authority to allow you to miss a payment or to let you pay less than what your plan provides. An order approving your plan binds you to make all required payments. If you simply stop making payments, the Trustee will seek dismissal of your case. You also have the right to ask the court, through your attorney, to dismiss your case if you no longer want to remain in Bankruptcy.
If you wish to sell
your home or any other property, contact your attorney. You likely will not be
able to dispose of any property without court approval.
2. Obtaining New Credit
The Trustee does not have the authority to approve additional credit to purchase or refinance real estate. If you wish to do so, contact your attorney.
If there is a situation in which you need to incur additional credit, which is necessary for your performance under the plan, contact the Trustee’s office to obtain a credit approval form.
If there are any creditors that you are making
direct payments to (such as a current mortgage payment), you must maintain
those payments as you do your payments to the trustee. If you fall behind on
those payments, that creditor may be able to take that property away from
you. It is important that you
keep receipts for all payments you make directly to creditors.
The agreements that you have with your secured creditors (such as for a home or a car) require you to maintain full coverage insurance for that property. If you fail to maintain insurance, that creditor may be able to take that property away from you.
If during your case, you fail to make timely payments under your plan
or other substantial problems arise, the Trustee will seek dismissal of your
case. If your case is dismissed, your creditors will be able to pursue you
directly for payment of your debts. If you receive a motion to dismiss from our
office, contact your attorney immediately to discuss the situation.
The trustee will periodically send you a summary of your case. The summary will reflect the payments that you have sent in, the amounts that your creditors are claiming, and how much they have received. Please review the summary carefully to review for any discrepancies. You may also contact our office at any time if you need any of that information sooner or any other questions you may have about your case. You may also access our website at www.
Once you have completed the plan payments under your plan, the Trustee’s office will begin to close your case. The process takes approximately 6-8 weeks after we receive the final payment.
The closing process consists of the final disbursements to creditors and an audit to verify that all claims and court orders were paid correctly. When the audit process is complete, the trustee will file a notice of completion of plan payments with the bankruptcy court. The court will review your case to determine if you are eligible for a discharge. If your case was filed on or after October 17, 2005, then the court will verify that you have met all of the obligations necessary to obtain a discharge under BAPCPA, such as completion of a post-filing personal financial management class and the filing of a DSO certification at the end of the case. Assuming the court has determined that you are eligible for a discharge, the court will issue the discharge order and send a copy to you, your attorney and the creditors in your case. It is extremely important that you keep the court notified of any address changes so that you receive a copy of your discharge order. Please notify your attorney of all address changes so that he/she can file the appropriate paperwork with the court.
Also, the Trustee does not hold title to any secured property paid through the plan. Usually, the creditor will send it to you directly but you may need to contact them.