How can I tell if my case will be discharged soon?

[muzzey58]

My husband and I filed chapter 13 on November 30, 2006. We were originally scheduled to repay 80% of the debt because of an incompetent lawyer. He truly messed up our petition. He had us increase our federal tax deductions to stop any refund for the next year. However, he did not counsel us to lower them before the confirmation of our case. It meant that our case was based on the higher deductions and lower payments into our federal taxes. My husband reviewed the taxes for 2007 and realized that we owed nearly $5000 in taxes. I wrote letters, called his office at least 10 times a week. He never returned any of my phone calls or letters. I sought help from our local lawyer referral agency that they suggested that I seek to find a new attorney. I gave our original lawyer a chance to help with modify our case. I gave up finally and contacted several new attorneys. The one attorney said that basically our case with mishandled and misrepresented. We ended up firing the original attorney and hiring her. She has been a great attorney. She petitioned the court to modify our plan to allow for the higher tax payments to the IRS. This past year our car started going bad. It needed nearly $3000 worth of repairs to even stay on the road. We cut back expenses to the bone to find a new car. We petitioned the court to acquire the new car. However, our Trustee tried to stop us. My attorney pursued the case so that we could buy our new car. I've been looking at our bankruptcy ledgers online and realized tonight that most of the unsecured debt is almost paid off. The secured items on the case were paid off almost a year ago. The only items that are remaining now are a few unsecured old credit cards. These credit card accounts are now below $1000. We pay over $1200 a month into our plan. Since there are only around 10 companies left to pay off are we near the end? Thanks for any help. I can't believe that we've been in this case for 38 months and counting. I am going on vacation to beautiful Pennsylvania for a few days. I live near Cleveland and am originally from near Pittsburgh. I'll be glad to start saving money to buy a house. I'll never use plastic again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks.

[lrprn]

The one attorney said that basically our case with mishandled and misrepresented. We ended up firing the original attorney and hiring her. She has been a great attorney.

Great that your second attorney has represented you so well!

I've been looking at our bankruptcy ledgers online and realized tonight that most of the unsecured debt is almost paid off. The secured items on the case were paid off almost a year ago. The only items that are remaining now are a few unsecured old credit cards. These credit card accounts are now below $1000. We pay over $1200 a month into our plan. Since there are only around 10 companies left to pay off are we near the end?

The bk law states clearly that you pay into your plan until you've paid the number of payments/months agreed when the case was confirmed **OR** when all your unsecured creditors who filed claims are paid back in full.

Unfortunately you can't predict when your case will end by looking at the amount left to pay . The best source of where you stand on your plan and if it may pay off earlier than expected is your most excellent second attorney.

[77ford]

Just as far as our case. The secured part of our autos were paid off a year before we completed our bk. The trustee paid off the other little things, then went back to paying the autos unsecured part. That made me a little mad, especially because of the way one of the lenders had treated us before we filed. But I know I thought we were going to be done early, that didn't happen. That's just my .02 and my experience with our case. We completed our case on 10/31/09 and we're still waiting on the discharge. I called the court the other day and they said it'll probably be no sooner than Feb 2010.

We've recieved the title to one of our cars already, of course it wasn't the lender that acted so rudely to us. So I asked my attorney if I could contact them since we were done to ask when they are gonna give me the title. They told me they wouldn't give me the title until the case is discharged! What A$$es!! That's why we want the discharge papers and the title to this one so we can get rid of it. We need a new car so badly.

[jjj117]

Good luck. A year ago the balance I had left to pay was $97. The court kept taking their $1300 a month until my attorney got off his a#! and got my payments stopped in June. I had paid for 59 of my 60 months. I got my dicharge a week ago.