Moving during a CH 13

[coma]

Well, my husband got orders to move from HI to LA twoweeks ago. We had to report by 16 October, which we did. Now, our income has decreased because we lost our $1800 of housing money and cost of living alowance. However, though it's cheaper to live here, we still cannot meet our expenses, and I don't think we can keep up the CH 13 payment, though we're trying. I emailed the attny in HI that did our case, and she wants $1000 to file a motion to either lower the pmt or to connvert to a 7. Obviously, in a 13 and just having moved, we havn't extra money like that lying around, and she knows it. she said we can get someone here to represent us. I'm not sure what to do, but I don't know how long we can hang in. Any advice?

[HHM]

Well, you either hire an attorney or do it your self, those are your only choices. If you cannot afford attorney (honestly, you shouldn't begrudge your attorney asking for more money, the original fee you paid does not cover conversion...it would be like expecting your doctor to cure your cancer for the price of the office visit), then you are going to have to do it yourself.

In any event, you need to go through the means test and see if you now qualify for a chapter 7...if not, then you need to move the court to modify the plan.

[coma]

Thnks...I understand about her asking for ore money, though it seems like a lot. Anyway, I'm not sure what we're going to do at this point, but if we convert, we have to do th means test even if we originally filed under the old law?

[lrprn]

Sorry to hear about your tough times since the forced move, coma.

One thing you can do immediately is make appointments for 3-4 free half-hour to hour consultations with bankruptcy-specialty lawyers in your new area. That will give you a chance to find a new lawyer by meeting with them without initial cost to you. It's possible that your new lawyer may be willing to work out a payment plan - bk lawyers are accustomed to working with folks with cash flow problems. Take a copy of your original filing papers, a list of the current living expenses, utilities, etc, and the latest income paycheck stubs you have gotten so far in your new location.

The one thing you DO NOT want to do is just fall behind on your Ch 13 payments without notifying your trustee about your husband's job change and reduction in income. Does your HI trustee know you've moved out of state?

Hope this helps a bit - hang in there and welcome to the forum! Feel free to post other questions you have or just vent when you need to - thats' why we're here!

[coma]

Yes, I filed a change of address with the court as soon as we got an address. I haven't had a chance yet to make any appointments here, yet, but I plan to before the week is out. I don't know...I know I can do it myself, but have no idea how to begin, so that's obviously not a good idea...I'm at a loss.

[SinkingFast]

You won't be subject to New Law if you're able to convert your Ch 13 to a Ch 7.

You originally filed Old Law so Old Law rules would guide your Conversion and Ch 7 filing.

HTH!

[coma]

Thanks, Sinking!

I spoke to several attorneys here, and it cannot be transferred here and converted, though all but one thought it was weird that the attorney is charging more money to file a motion in the case.

Anyway, I digress...we're either going to have to file the motion ourselves (which would probably be dumb, since I have no idea how it should look or what it should say), or scrimp more than we already are (if that's possible) to pay her another $1000...

We could get dismissed, but then have to suffer through another 6 months of junk to be able to refile, plus having a dismissal and another BK on our credit...sorry...venting a bit now

[Jman30]

I would do anything can do to avoid having the case dismissed. That may seem like the easy way out, but believe me, it is NOT a good thing. In six months, you will find yourself right back where you started.
Plus, you will get eaten alive by creditors. They know you can't file again for 6 months, so they come after you full blast. They will start garnishing your wages so fast you won't even be able to keep up. You'll have less money when you are dismissed than you do now!

I understand what the attorney's said, but what did they give as an explanation as why the case can't be transferred?????

[coma]

No one could give me a clear answer as to why, so I really don't know. I don't want to be dismissed...i get what you're saying I can't go through that again, which is why we filed in the first place. We're going to cut as much as possible to keep the payment up while saving a little something. The military has yet to pay our reimbursements for the move, so we may just get enough money from that to pay her. We'll see. For now, I guess we do the best we cn to hang on. I just hope the motion is not denied.

[Jman30]

In my humble opinion, they should be bending over backwards to help your husband as a member of our Armed Forces. It is not like it was a voluntary move - he was ordered to move. As you can probably agree, our men and women in uniform are underpaid anyway and in this time of war, you have worse things to worry about than bankruptcy.

I would try to find out WHY they can't transfer your BK. People move all the time. There should be some procedure somewhere that allows a case to be transferred from one Trustee to another. I can't imagine that this has NEVER come up. I am sure it is pain for the Trustees and the lawyers, which is why they don't want to deal with it.

Please thank your husband for his service and I hope you get through this tough time.

[coma]

In my humble opinion, they should be bending over backwards to help your husband as a member of our Armed Forces. It is not like it was a voluntary move - he was ordered to move. As you can probably agree, our men and women in uniform are underpaid anyway and in this time of war, you have worse things to worry about than bankruptcy.

I would try to find out WHY they can't transfer your BK. People move all the time. There should be some procedure somewhere that allows a case to be transferred from one Trustee to another. I can't imagine that this has NEVER come up. I am sure it is pain for the Trustees and the lawyers, which is why they don't want to deal with it.

Please thank your husband for his service and I hope you get through this tough time.

I will Thank you for your advice. I found, on the HI court website, a motion for transfer, and I'm going to do that first, then work from there.

[Jman30]

Glad to help!

[EmmaT]

Coma,
Your payment seems to be only $300 a month. Why don't you get a part-time job? If you have a small child at home, take care of another one for someone else. Good daycare is hard to find, and I'm sure you could make $300 a months easily taking care of just one other child. My son-in-law is career Navy, and I know what a struggle it was for them the first few years. It's difficult for the wife sometime to get a decent job, but even at minimum wage you would only have to work 20 hours a week or less to make that $300.
Good luck!