End of Chapter 13 question

[jjj117]

I had posted previously about my Chapter 13 possibly ending a bit early and my difficulties with getting a response from my attorney. Now let me ask this question. I am in a 60 month 100% Chapter 13. My payments are sent directly from my employer to the trustee every pay. My 60th payment will be coming from my last paycheck in July of this year. In my reviewing of the information about my plan on the 13 Datacenter site and knowing how much will come out of my check and when, My plan base will be paid in full as of my last check in May, not July. I have called my attorney multiple times to get my case reviewed. I was told in October that he would do an early review and have gotten no response. My calls with questions to them are answered by "we've been really swamped, but will review your case." The trustee will not answer my questions because I am "represented".
Will the trustee begin their final review of my case when my plan base gets paid in full or will they make me pay all 60 payments as there were 60 payments scheduled? And if they do make me make all 60 payments will the payments still keep coming out of my check while they do their review(even though the 60 payments have been made)?
I am kind of between a rock and a hard place. When I began my plan I was living with my father who has since passed away. I began to live with a roommate who a year ago unexpectedly moved to pursue a degree, however she has paid me half of the rent that she had signed the lease for which has kept me afloat. That lease is done in July, same time as my plan should be done. If they continue to take my payments out of my check life is going to get real tough until they stop. Can anyone answer my question as to when my payments should stop and put my mind at ease? Or does anyone have any advice about where to go with my attorney or the trustee? In case it matters I have missed 0 payments during the course of my plan.

[Flamingo]

First congrats on getting to the end of your plan. Secondly, to find out if your plan is actually paid with your May payment, your attorney is going to have to review your situation and contact the trustee to stop any wage order payments. Your attorney is probably swamped with BK filings now so you have to be a bit more proactive. Call your attorney's office and leave messages with the receptionist, attorney's assistant, paralegal and on the attorney's voice mail. Do it daily. If no response, physically show up at the office to get an answer. The latter should do it.

[holding on]

From previous postings if you're attorney is slow to the chase then you most likely won't get it stopped early.

As far as worrying if it will indeed stop at July as the plan indicates, I'm curious about this and first encountered it in another post. The wage order directive sent to your employer, it doesn't have a specific time frame? My employer has an order from the trustee that says something like "on Jan 1, 2009 employer is ordered to take out $500 semi-monthly for 60 months". Is it normal bk procedure for the trusted to send a payroll deduction order without time defined?

[jjj117]

That is a good question and something I have not checked. Guess I need to make a trip to the payroll department on Monday because I have no idea what the order they sent my employer said.

[justbroke]

Go sit in your Attorney's office or call him repeatedly, until he responds. I know they are all swamped with the work, but this is what happens when a Chapter 13 case is in Plan. That is, the attorneys forget about it and could care less... because they have new business that they need to win/acquire. I'm not faulting them for drumming up and getting new business, but they have to remember the clients that are in plan!

Sorry... just my little rant. BTW, I hate my attorney!

[StartingOver08]

Ha, Ha JustBroke...were you testing us to see if we are awake?

[justbroke]

Ha, Ha JustBroke...were you testing us to see if we are awake?

Yes, there's nothing to see here. Move along please.

[Abbey]

I have a end of chapter 13 question. My lawyer worked some good mojo and one of the credit cards companies is not getting a dime. Now I have five months left on a 36 month plan, my payroll deduction goes on but the other three credit card companies have been paid what they were to get under the plan so the trustee has not paid out anything in four months there is now $4000 sitting with the trustee and by the end of the plan it will be about $7,500 what happens to this money at the time of discharge?


Filed Chapter 13 6/03/06
341 meeting 7/17/06
Confirmed 8/31/06
Closing date 8/31/09

[jjj117]

I do know that once your case is done the trustee will review your case and make sure that all the money went where it was supposed to. If there is a balance left at the end you get that back. I have over 4 grand in my account there and all they pay is my car payment every month with with less than 4 months to go. Their website says that my "principal owed" is $92, but they don't pay it. I just hope that I'm reading my plan right, because if I am and some creditors did not file claims(like I suspect but my attorney won't verify for me) I could be looking at a 6 grand plus check when all is said and done. Right at moving time it could not work out better for me.

[lrprn]

...the trustee has not paid out anything in four months there is now $4000 sitting with the trustee and by the end of the plan it will be about $7,500 what happens to this money at the time of discharge?

After the trustee audits your case and you are discharged, any extra cash is retuned to you.

A question for you....does your plan pay 100% to all your creditors that filed claims?

If I were you, I would ask your lawyer to ask your trustee where you are on your plan at the moment. Unless your plan payback to unsecureds is 100%, just because there have been no disbursements for a few months doesn't automatically mean that your case is done.

[crookedoak]

I filed 10/2004 for 60 month plan with 4% payback, excluding priority creditors.
Things changed over the years and at attorneys advice I made additional out of pocket payments in October and November to end plan early.

Stay on attorney to ensure that the court orders pay garnishment stopped and check with your payroll dept.

My pay garnishing stopped mid January, and my datacenter info shows plan at 49 months, balance on hand of just under 4000.00, with 978 owed.

I am told this can take up to 4 months from the last confirmation hearing February 3rd.

Eagerly waiting

[jjj117]

The main reason that I believe that my plan may get done early is this:When I received my yearly statement from the trustee last July it said "approximate balance after application of balance on hand is $4398.58. This approximate balance is a payoff figure as of the date of this letter. It includes just one month of mortgage payments)". I do not make mortgage payments but do make monthly payments through the plan. After reading that I added up the "principal owed" column for my case on the 13 Datacenter site and it equalled $4398.58. It now adds up to $92 as they have paid off everything except for one account with the $92 balance. For the last 3 months the only thing they pay is my monthly car payment.

case status:Requires review, computer generated code
balance on hand:4454.22
plan base:84346
total paid into plan:79981
principal owed:92

No payments made to anything except monthly car payment since Nov 08. Of course as I already said my attorney will not get back to me and the trustee won't talk to me. I assume, and no one that matters will confirm or deny my claims, that several creditors did not file claims. The other reason I think that is because on the 13 Datacenter site there are several creditors listed that had balances to be paid listed in the "scheduled amount" column, but have $0 listed in the "claim amount" column.

[Abbey]

After the trustee audits your case and you are discharged, any extra cash is retuned to you.

A question for you....does your plan pay 100% to all your creditors that filed claims?

If I were you, I would ask your lawyer to ask your trustee where you are on your plan at the moment. Unless your plan payback to unsecureds is 100%, just because there have been no disbursements for a few months doesn't automatically mean that your case is done.

my plan is not %100 the plan was confirmed at 38% after confirmation my lawyer got one of the credit cards dismissed, I assume any funds left over will go to the other unsecured creditors

[lrprn]

Here's the rub. Any 13 plan with less than 100% payback to non-secured creditors that was filed after October 17, 2005 takes the risk that if the plan does reach the agreed payback % early, the trustee may be one that interprets the current bk law that confirmed payments must be paid for the agreed # of months with the extra $$ going to the non-secured creditors who filed claims so they get an increased payback %. These trustees believe that it's the number of payments made that matters, not reaching the payback %.

This is one of the infamous Ch 13 gray areas that opened up when the current bk law went into effect. Since most of the Ch 13 cases finishing now were filed under the current law, this is an area likely to be fought out in the courts to establish a precedent. Discuss with your lawyer if your local court has already made a decision about how to handle this situation.

[crookedoak]

I am awaiting discharge under the old law.
What you describe on the site is much like I see.
My trustees office has replied to emails, and they say they are confirming everything is paid

It is really hard knowing it is done, especially since I need to get a new vehicle but need the discharge to be official for the loan