Facing dismissal - mtg question

[Liberty73]

Hey all! With less than 6 months to go, Trustee has filed a Notice to Dismiss. I know ….4 and 1/2 yrs in…I’m embarrassed to write this. However life changes in the last year and a huge drop in income (by half) and we are unable to keep up with our 100% plan. I do have a call into our attorney and waiting to hear back. we filed in PA. Our mortgage was in foreclosure- filed the day before the sheriffs sale so it’s been “continued indefinitely “ but the foreclosure action never closed - even though the arrears were brought current years ago. Payment is paid inside the BK.

My fear is if BK is dismissed, will the sheriffs sale move forward even though the mortgage is now current?

[justbroke]

At least in my district, foreclosure actions are withdrawn (the case closed) once the plan is confirmed. My thought is that if you are current on your mortgage, there's no way they can foreclose. Foreclosure requires that you are not paying the creditor.

I don't know why yours was "continued indefinitely" since the bankruptcy code says that the automatic stay stays the continuation of process to obtain property of the estate. So I don't even know why there's still a foreclosure action that is "active." Again, at least in Florida, the case would have been dropped at confirmation. The creditor would need to file a new foreclosure action if the debtor's case was dismissed.

Your attorney may be able to get a hardship discharge or convert to a Chapter 7.

My only concern would be if your Chapter 13 actually did pay all the arrears already since they are usually spread out across the life of the plan.

[Liberty73]

Hello! Thank you for your reply! Yes all secured debt was paid first, including mortgage arrears. Both our vehicles were also paid in full and we received the titles from the lien holders a few years back. Only regular mortgage payments are paid now. I am speaking with attorney this morning for our options.

Our foreclosure action still shows up on the monthly sheriff sale lists, but under “continued indefinitely”, with a few others that must be under Ch 13 as well. I think I remember reading when we first filed that in PA they keep it open (if it went to sheriff sale) so the bank can immediately schedule a sale should the bk be dismissed at some point instead of refing foreclosure paperwork…but not sure what happens since we are current. However - the Trustee did throw out some junk attorney fees the lender was trying to charge - around $8 if I remember correctly, one of the reasons I couldn’t bring current and filed BK - I had $$ to bring current but bank would not accept without paying attorney fees. So that could be an issue if dismissed, and not sure if they could move forward with sheriff sale based on attorney fees only?

[Liberty73]

Also - we now live in Texas (moved due to jobs last year) so this house is no longer our primary residence. Not sure how that would affect anything either…

[justbroke]

What are you trying to do with the property? I have no answers as to your trying to protect the non-homestead property in another State.