Currently in BK 13 and wife wants to retire

[Jovick]

My wife and I filed BK13 together about 18 months ago (5 year non-100% plan) and have been making regular payments since then. We are in NC. She has recently turned 64 and is really wanting retire as she is having some issues with her eyesight and is basically getting pretty worn out. Without her working it would be impossible to stay on the same payment plan as we are currently on because what she would receive in retirement would be about half of what she is making currently. Is it possible to have the payment plan modified to our new expected situation or are we likely looking at a dismissal? I've googled similar situations and can't really find anything out there related to what we are thinking about doing so hopefully somebody here can shed some light. Note that converting to BK7 is not an option as my income alone puts us well over the median income threshold for NC. Thank you for any help.

[justbroke]

This is a very good question. Chapter 13s have options to deal with a change in income, family size, and other unexpected events. Someone will need to go through all the data and figure out what is viable. I would always put my health and safety over being in the plan. That said, start with your attorney. Chapter 13 debtors have had various issues over the course of the plan so nothing is really new. Life happens.

My personal opinion is to plan for her retirement and let your attorney know exactly what you wrote here. Hopefully your attorney has a good solution and can file for a plan modification that is consistent with your new situation.

[Jovick]

Thank you JB. We do have a good BK attorney and she has given good advice in the past so I will definitely contact her. I'm 60 right now and plan to retire around 65 so this doesn't affect me too much right now but my wife WAS planning to retire at 62.5 and then BK13 hit us so all the plans were changed. Her job is very stressful as they seem to rely on her for everything and it burns her out very fast. The main reason we filed BK13 was because we came to the realization that we'd never be able to retire before age 70 (at earliest) with the amount of debt we had. Minus the mortgage we had around $200k combined in secured and unsecured debt. Most of it unsecured. Very scary at our age. I'll post an update after discussing with our attorney. thanks again!

[justbroke]

I think the conversation will go well. Life happens, and we need to take care of ourselves. If there is still enough money to pay the creditors "something" if the plan is modified, then the Chapter 13 Trustee may be more receptive than trying to negotiate something infeasible.