Trustee Payments to Creditors?

[IHaveRegrets]

My plan was confirmed back in October, at that time my attorney received a significant lump sum of their $4000-ish fee.

Since then the trustee seems to be slow paying them the remainder of my lawyers fee at a rate that will see them paid off in something like October/November of this year.

I realize and understand that the money is the trustee's problem to account for once I've submitted my payment, however, it would be nice to see one of my "creditors" get paid off and my tax debts started on.

At this time at least according to the ledger numbers on ndc, there's more than enough to pay off my attorney's fees.

Like clockwork, the trustee has been paying themself (of course), and my continued car loan, and of course the attorney fee. No problems there, I'm just baffled about all the money sitting around in the "account".

Is this worth asking my lawyer's office about? I have the feeling that leaving it alone is the better course of action since my plan is confirmed and I'm doing my part. But also, it would be nice to see that bill drop off the list.

It was strongly suggested by my attorney's office when I filed to check NDC every month to make certain my payment is credited, which is why I've noticed this pattern. I of course also want my lawyer's office to get their money, they did their job for me.

Thoughts?

[justbroke]

How the Chapter 13 Trustee makes payments and deals with the account... is up to the Trustee. Generally speaking, the Trustee can only get paid if they make payments. This is why we sometimes see varying amounts going to the Trustee because they get 10% of the payments they make (not the money collected... at least as far as I have seen).

If you have DMI that is going into a pool for unsecured creditors, some Chapter 13 Trustee will hold this money for a VERY LONG TIME. I have read of some trustees that hold it until 12-months until the end. It could be a lot of money at that time. Some trustees may pay unsecured creditors only quarterly or annually, but there's nothing that says when the trustee must pay the unsecured creditors (other than by the end of the plan).

Some Chapter 13 Trustees are cool and take all of the DMI and the regular secured debt payment (for a car), and pay the car off as fast as possible! My car was paid off in just over 15 months!

[shipo]

I would leave it alone; if you're attorney has been doing this for a while, then he or she is very familiar with the Trustee's disbursement patterns; if not, he or she will learn them quickly. From your side of things, all you need to do is to make sure your payments get there on time and are posted to your account.

[IHaveRegrets]

How the Chapter 13 Trustee makes payments and deals with the account... is up to the Trustee. Generally speaking, the Trustee can only get paid if they make payments. This is why we sometimes see varying amounts going to the Trustee because they get 10% of the payments they make (not the money collected... at least as far as I have seen).

If you have DMI that is going into a pool for unsecured creditors, some Chapter 13 Trustee will hold this money for a VERY LONG TIME. I have read of some trustees that hold it until 12-months until the end. It could be a lot of money at that time. Some trustees may pay unsecured creditors only quarterly or annually, but there's nothing that says when the trustee must pay the unsecured creditors (other than by the end of the plan).

Some Chapter 13 Trustees are cool and take all of the DMI and the regular secured debt payment (for a car), and pay the car off as fast as possible! My car was paid off in just over 15 months!

Heh. My car is being paid off in its normal monthly cadence as if I was still making the payments, the loan was continued because at the time of purchase my credit was still good enough to qualify for a good interest rate.

After my attorney gets paid off, the next bill on the list as far as I can decern is my almost 25k in IRS debt, then 10-12k in state taxes owed.

If it were all going out monthly, my unsecured creditors aren't getting anything until about the last 12-14 months of my plan if I did the math correctly. I am not in a 100% plan.

Anyway, I'll leave it alone and just keep checking to make sure I get the credit each month for making my payment.

[IHaveRegrets]

I would leave it alone; if you're attorney has been doing this for a while, then he or she is very familiar with the Trustee's disbursement patterns; if now, he or she will learn them quickly. From your side of things, all you need to do is to make sure your payments get there on time and are posted to your account.

Yeah, he has. The weird part was right after confirmation they got something like 60-70% of their fee. I had figured that in the next couple of months (leading to my question today) they would have been paid off. Instead, they're receiving little drips of money.

Whatever, in the end as long as I see the acknowledgment of my money being paid to the trustee that's as far as I'm responsible, after that it's on the trustee. I will leave it be, I was just very curious.

[justbroke]

After my attorney gets paid off, the next bill on the list as far as I can decern is my almost 25k in IRS debt, then 10-12k in state taxes owed.

The Chapter 13 Trustees pay creditors based on their priority. The Trustee's fee and your attorney fees are considered administrative with priority. The next priority is secured debt. The IRS is a priority unsecured debt, so it gets priority over every other unsecured creditor -- at least the part of the IRS claim that is marked as priority.

If it were all going out monthly, my unsecured creditors aren't getting anything until about the last 12-14 months of my plan if I did the math correctly. I am not in a 100% plan.

Sounds about right. And, as I wrote above, the Trustee will go by priority and unsecured creditors are the bottom of the barrel.

Anyway, I'll leave it alone and just keep checking to make sure I get the credit each month for making my payment.

You can keep checking to make sure your payment is received and generally look to see how things are being paid. But, it's nothing to worry about. We always tell people to not worry about who, what, or when the Trustee is paying. All payments made to the Trustee are considered on-time payments to the creditors.