Tax refund question

[rsaunier72]

I am guessing the answer to this question is not going to be what I want to hear, but I need to ask anyway.
My husband is self employed and I am a student. When we filed Chapter 13 we were making more than double the amount that we are now. Now our income has dropped so much (due to the economy) to the extent that we are now probably considered to be in the poverty level. This has caused us to have a large tax refund due to child tax credit and earned income. We could use this refund desperately! However, our plan states that we need to pay half of our refund to the trustee. This would not normally be an issue, but we are so financially desperate right now that even half of it does not help our situation. I have asked our attorney if there was any chance of keeping it this year and he flat out told me no. He didn't even attempt to check into it. I hate asking him anything because he seems to assume more than anything. Plus, he is charging me for every call and meeting that we have. Obviously I cannot afford to pay him every time I have a question. We only have a year and a half of this to go and I have only called him 3 times and had one meeting since our initial hearing.
Is there any hope to keep our refund? I am not asking to modify my plan because I do not want to prolong our time in the plan. Also, I know my attorney will charge me to do a modification!

[SMinGA]

If your income has dropped that much - is there any reason for you to stay in a ch. 13? Perhaps converting to a ch. 7 would be in your best interest?

Regarding the income tax refund, I have read others state that one can motion to keep the refund for specific purposes. Such as submitting information to the trustee to show how you need to spend it... $X on medical expenses, $X on car repairs, etc. But that would need to be worked out thru your attorney. And since your trustee automatically allows you to keep 1/2 of the refund, its possible that the trustee could be difficult to convince.

[rsaunier72]

Thank you for your answer. We filed Chapter 13 to keep our home as we were in the process of foreclosure. I have considered Chapter 7 though. I really want to keep our home because when this is all said and done we will have some equity and I would like to sell it. I guess I am just not sure what to do at this point. I would like to try to keep our refund by showing how I need to spend it, but my attorney does not seem to be interested in looking into it for us. Is there anyway I can deal with the trustee myself?

[SMinGA]

Has your mortgage arrears been paid off thru the plan, or is there still some remaining? Your post said you have 1 1/2 years left so I guess you're either 1 1/2 years in or 3 1/2 years in depending on your original plan length.

[rsaunier72]

I have a year and a half into it. So I have over $3000 in arrears left to pay . It could be worse, but that is still a big amount for us to pay off right now.