Early Payoff Question

[OverThisCh13]

I have a situation and I am wondering if anyone has been through this. Naturally, my attorney is out of the office this week so she is unavailable.
My wife and I filed joint Ch 13 in May, 2005. The debts we had at the time were 1st mortgage which is crammed down to 73000 which will be paid off in the BK, about 8000 in past due IRS taxes which will be paid off, and about 58000 in federal student loans, which are being paid on in the BK, but will survive the BK. We have 11 months left of the 60 months, and the payoff of the mortgage and IRS is about 15K. I have gotten refinancing lined up to pay off the BK. Now we heard through the paralegal at our attorney's office that the trustee says that unless we refinance to include paying off the student loans (an additional 40K), then we will need to modify the plan to pay it off without the student loans. What gives? The trustee knows the student loans will survive the bankruptcy, and has known it all along, as she made a point of emphasizing this in the creditors meeting. She has been paying almost 500 per month to the student loans for 4 years, and my payments would have only been about 250 or 300 monthly if I had been paying them outside the BK. The paralegal said that "this way she (the trustee) knows they are getting paid something on the student loans".

Does anyone know how hard it would be to get a plan modification this late in the BK, or if there is any way around it other than refinancing for the full amount, which would put me up to about 90% the value of our home.

I am so over this bankruptcy (as my name should show) and living the past 4 years almost as paupers and letting medical needs and numerous home repairs go untended. The lack of needed repairs are causing the value of my home, as well as my health to decline!

Any thoughts?

[HHM]

The way around it is to simply complete the chapter 13 plan, it's only 11 months.

Plan modifications are not difficult, this sounds like a mere technical step probably based on the way your original plan was worded. Without more detail on your actual plan, no one here can really say what, specifically, you will need to modify.

[OverThisCh13]

Only 11 months

I know it's only 11 months, but the way things are going, I don't know if we will make it 11 more months. I have asked about getting my payments suspended for hardship for 30-45 days, but was told by attorney's office that "the trustee won't do that" and that was the end of that.

I am ready to give up, get it dismissed, and walk away from the house and everything else.

[Flamingo]

At only 11 months from the end of your plan, you don't want to even think about allowing your plan to be dismissed. You said you spoke with a paralegal...did you speak to your actual attorney? THe paralegal does not represent you - the attorney does. Get ahold of your attorney, explain your situation and see what, if anything, can be done. Note it takes a few months to modify a plan as a Motion is involved (and a cost, say like $400) so you could only have 8 months to go by the time it is all approved and then you would have to refinance. Best thing to do is sit down with your attorney and go over all this and what your best options are...but by no means allow your plan to be dismissed. You got this far - don't let it all go down the toilet.