trustee is objecting to payment plan

[quietsound]

Well, I just saw on pacer that the trustee is objecting to our plan because the first 12 months the payments are 1123.00 and then they drop to 700.00 due to my husband not getting a bonus benefit after 12months. So now we have to deal with this confirmation hearing in March.

I myself don't care if we just pay the 1123.00 for the whole 60 months. It does not bother me in the least..........i just want this nightmare to be over with. i just want to make my payments and get on with life.

Is this something that can be worked out before the confirmation hearing and do we have to go to this when we have a lawyer.

Anyone who has had issues with confirmation hearings and objections to plans by trustee, please respond.

what a nailbiting experience

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

When I was in Ch13 for a minute, my plan proposal was for $250 because the Means Test proved I had Negative $60. So my lawyer thought he could propose a "good faith plan of $250," even though schedules I and J showed I had $800 disposable income. The Trustee Objected and the case HAD to go before the BK judge to decide. Well I went before the Bk judge, and he did not want to decide one way or the other, he wanted us (the lawyer and I) to submit another plan. My choice in the end was pay $800 the next 5 years (because I was working 2 full time jobs - OR QUIT one job and pay nothing and convert to Ch7)

GUESS WHAT I DID ! QUIT ONE JOB, why look at the next 5 years working 80 hours a week when I can just QUIT for a couple months and pay nothing.

Things will work out for you, if your income changes, so must your plan, it only makes sense (even though you are happy to pay $1123.00 for the full 60 months) IF YOU CAN PAY LESS, than go for less even in the middle of the GAME !

Best of Luck, Catchmeifyoucan !

[quietsound]

So is this something that can worked out? If I don't have objections to what he is asking, is it something that can be worked out so that we can still do this? I'm having a very bad anxiety attack!

[HHM]

Chapter 13 Trustees almost always file some sort of objection to the first proposed plan. And yes, this is something you can work out with the trustee, (in fact, it is pretty much expected that you do so: unless it is a fundamental problem).

All you need to do is contact the trustee and determine what they are looking for...remember, it is a negotiation, then you make a counter proposal and hopeful it can be worked out.

[quietsound]

according to what all i read, he's looking for $1123 for 60 months instead of 12 months and then the rest being 750 a month..........he says once it's over 12 months he won't have enough to pay secured creditors so i'm not really have an objection to 1123 for 60ms that's what i'm paying right at the moment.

[quietsound]

see, the way the payments are set up now, i'm paying 1123 for 12 months, then $700 for 4 months, and then $757 for the remainder.....the up and down has to do with my husband not getting his benefit check anymore and then it goes up slightly 4 months after that cause my student loan (which i'm paying outside of the plan) is paid off.
What the trustee is saying in the report is that doing the liquidation report, i need to have in my plan lets say $63,000 instead of my plan which is $42,000 something..........and he's saying that the first 12 months are fine but when it drops to 700 and then 750, he won't have enough to pay the secured creditors ........so really what I feel he wants is the entire $1123 for the entire 60 months. and i have no objections to that. I'm making that now anyway. see my lawyer added in as income the benefit check for the year left we are to get it but i'm not really using those funds to even pay the payment with. So i would just rather go ahead and give him what he wants of the $1123 and i can't see why he would argue with this! I think i better talk to the lawyer first though since he represents me.

[HHM]

Well, if you have a lawyer, let your lawyer handle it. All you need to do is give your lawyer some parameters.

Also, can you really afford the $1,123 for the entire length of the plan.

Regarding the liquidation report...what the trustee is saying is that "if" you were to file a chapter 7, you have $63,000 in non-exempt assets. So, you may want to go through and check on your exemptions and how you valued certain assets.

In any event, if you can live with that payment, your lawyer and the trustee will either do a simple write-in on your existing plan to up the payment (or, your lawyer will submit a modified plan) and your chapter 13 will have no problem being confirmed.

[quietsound]

as it stands right now yes i can make that payment...of course i have only made three payments so far. who is to say what will happen 16 months from now or 40months from now. no one really knows if they can afford it down the road. 5 years is a very long time. anything can happen. business can get slow or work stops, who really knows if any of us can truly afford to pay what we all are paying. I guess that's why when you get into trouble you pick up the phone and call the lawyer or the trustee. Personally i would rather pay nothing. but i have a house and a car and don't want to lose them. I basically want to know if i have anything to worry about since I just found this out. I don't want to have to worry that no one will work with me on this and it being tossed out. Because if i can't do this i don't know what i will do.

I want to thank you for your help though. this forum has truly been a godsend to me..........very valuable information!

[aa06a47]

I would work with your attorney and propose a payment plan that will get you the 63K amount the trustee is looking for. As it stands now, you won't be able to get a confirmed plan unless you pay at least as much as the creditors would get in a chapter 7...and if I read this correctly, your trustee is saying it is around 63k. You might pay more the first 12 months, then propose the plan where you get to the magic number the trustee is looking...which should be around 1040/month...

[quietsound]

Like i said, i'm paying $1123 now and i don't mind paying that the entire 60 months! that puts the amount around $67,380 which is more than enough and some left over in case the unsecured people submit claims. I really don't have any objections at all in paying that amount and I don't see why he wouldn't accept those terms.

[HHM]

Like i said, i'm paying $1123 now and i don't mind paying that the entire 60 months! that puts the amount around $67,380 which is more than enough and some left over in case the unsecured people submit claims. I really don't have any objections at all in paying that amount and I don't see why he wouldn't accept those terms.

That is fine...all I am suggesting is that you should not give in to the trustee's demand without at least trying to negotiate something a little better, after all, why pay more than you have too. In the end, if the trustee will accept no less than the $1,123, and you are already willing to pay that, than you don't lose anything by trying to get a slightly better deal.

[aa06a47]

I agree with HMM, however, if you can pay the $1123 without any problem even after the decrease in income, it might be best to not fight too hard, but at the same time not roll over. If you can save 75 bucks a month fighting a little, then do so.

I will tell you briefly what I encounted when I went through this confirmation process. The trustee first asked my lawyer for 20 bucks more / month, I said OK, then they came back and asked for 80 bucks more, I said OK, then they came back and asked for another 30 bucks....I told my lawyer OK, but if they come back and want more, then we will need to appear before the judge. THe trustee didn't ask for anymore after that. The trustee kept bumping the number up until I started squeeling then stopped. It might not hurt to squeel a little.

[$$only4ever]

My plan was also objected to by the trustee the first time around. He sent a letter that based on this and that, he wanted almost $1,000 a month, which in all honesty he could have gotten. I told my attorney that if he wouldn't budge, then we would need to appear before the judge. He agreed. I don't know of all the conversations that took place, but my plan was confirmed with only a $500 payment per month and no request by the trustee to decrease our percentage of our 401k plan, and I get my tax refunds. Trust me it does pay to squeal. 60 months is a long time.

[quietsound]

I'm going to let this lawyer handle it, he can bicker back and forth with the trustee....I pay this man $3000 so i don't have to worry, he can worry about it. I have not heard from him yet. Although i have not called him yet. Technically I haven't even gotten the notice in the mail yet. It was something I read off pacer that was put on there on friday. I look at it this way, if the lawyer wants the $3000 that's in the plan, he will find a way to make it work or he won't get zip! plain and simple.

Thanks for all your help

[quietsound]

I found out what the problem is and what has caused the payments to go up etc. it seems that on the bankruptcy papers there are a few accounts in my name and a few in my husband's name that were listed as individual debts but on the credit report they are listed as joint. However my husband never used the credit cards. The lawyer said if they are joint then they have to be added in but that if one used them and the other did not we could sign an affidavid saying that only one used the cards. but this is the reason why he wants the payments to go up.