What happens to money paid if I convert?

[Bkman2]

I had a question about the money I paid into my plan when I convert to a chapter 7? My debt is all CCs. My only asset thats non-exempt is my car. Wife is on both titles and I can only exempt one car. I'm going to push to convert at the end of June. I would have to get another appraisal for my car and with the wild car and her on the title I may have to pay $1500+/- to keep it.

Who gets the money I paid in to the 13? I know the trustee for the 13 will take something, but who gets the rest. Do I get it back or does the new trustee get it? Can I use it to cover the cost to keep my car?


Any ideas?

[SMinGA]

It depends...

Has your plan been confirmed? If so, the trustee should be making payments to your debts. If its not confirmed, in most cases the only thing that gets paid pre-confirmation is secured loans such as a car. If you convert or dismiss, there is probably a stipulation (if you did not pay your atty in full) about how much the atty gets.

What has been paid out to date? In the useful links thread, there is a link to the 13DataCenter. You may want to check there to see what has happened so far.

[Bkman2]

My 341 was Feb 16th and it was confirmed on March 25th. I'm only paying CC's and attorney. Attorney got $1500 upfront bacause I was thinking I would be a 7 from the start. Some bad math and a few other things from his assistant started me off in a 13. Trustee has not paid anyone yet.

[SMinGA]

By the time you dismiss and/or convert - the trustee will probably have sent out some payments. There is a good possibility that anything paid in up until the time you filed will be sent to creditors and/or your atty. (With the trustee taking a fee of course.) Your atty probably has it arranged to get all of his payment over the first ~6 months or so of the plan rather than an equal portion over 36-60 months.

If it takes time to stop deductions (if you're doing payroll wage order) then anything taken out after the dismissal/conversion gets returned to you. I can speak to that - according to the 13DataCenter our last weekly check withdrawal was cut on Friday. (Our TT seems to have about a 2 week turnaround from when they received it, perhaps to make sure the funds are good?)