Paying early? Or paying more?

[tigergem]

If I get a new job, I am required to submit new budget and expense forms to the trustee within 30 days.

I fully anticipate a temporary 4 month job to begin the end of August. I have run my plan scenario already and it looks like my monthly plan payment will probably have to increase by $49.00 for that time period. (Yeah, big deal, huh?)

Will that amount serve to reduce the amount of the final plan payment or will it be paid in addition to what the unsecured creditors are already receiving?

I have kind of thought that it doesn't automatically change the total dollar amount of my confirmed plan, but am not positive about that...

[SMinGA]

In addition to the confirmed $ to unsecured.

Though when you contact the trustee about a 4 months of $49 extra, he may decide its not worth the time/effort of filing amended docs (twice, first to increase payment and then later to reduce it again).

[tigergem]

Thank you SMinGA. I wouldn't count on that. This is the trustee that made me amend my budget/expenses at the 341 because my cell phone bill dropped by $15.00. An additional $49/month for 4 months would probably make him salivate.

[nc73]

depends on the trustee

[lrprn]

Typically confirmed plans are amended for long-lasting or permanent income or expense changes. A 4-month temp job won't qualify for an plan amendment in most local courts. However, since you seem to have pulled a nit-picking trustee, who knows what he might want to do?

Since you filed your Ch 13 pro se, contact your trustee as required and see what he says. Be sure to emphasize the job is only for 4 months and then will end. Your trustee might be anxious to increase your monthly payment for 4 months, but your bk court judge is just as likely to be getting irritated by now with constantly amending plans for this trustee for peanuts. The court costs for making the plan changes, notifying all your creditors again, and getting the new plan approved have to be a lot more than $49/month. Then after 4 months you are going to revert to the old plan and the court will have to do the same ridiculous thing to return your plan back to its current state just to net $197? Let's hope your bk judge can knock some sense into your overachieving trustee

Hope for the best, expect the worst is always a good motto for bk. Here's hoping the best happens in your case.

[Flamingo]

The best thing you are doing here is complying with what you need to do - that is important because if you withheld the increase and it was discovered, your entire matter could get blown right out of the water. Any additional funds that come in during your Plan years are funds that can be distributed to creditors over and above the amounts confirmed in your Plan - it is addidtional disposable income. The trustee's job is to get as much as he/she can paid to the creditors. In our situation, my father-in-law passed during our Chapter 13 and my husband and his brother were sole heirs. After all was paid and done with the estate (yes we reported everything), the trustee took half of the funds given to my husband and those funds were distribiuted among our creditors over and above their confirmed amount for repayment. It was not a huge sum and we could have used it badly for something else and it hurt to let it go, but the main thing is we complied, got through the plan successfully and avoided any chance of issues or dismissal by reporting stuff as necessary.

[tigergem]

Oh I am positive it would be discovered. I have to turn my income tax returns in every year. I'm not going to try to hide it.

But I darn sure am going to fight to keep a huge portion of it for much needed dental work (no dental insurance). In fact, I am going to be getting treatment plans and estimates this summer, well in advance of starting the job. (lol - - makes me think of the "What did you do on summer vacation?" essays we had to write in grade school!) It should be "just enough", I hope, to cover it all. In fact, that is the only reason I am even contemplating taking this job. It is my understanding that you can claim big medical expenses if you can prove them.

The other complication: I have to leave the state for this position. My travel expenses to and from will not be reimbursed, but my lodging will be paid directly while I am there. But I still have to pay my rent here, of course, while I am gone.

If he gives me a hard time and files an objection while I am gone, it will screw everything up (and actually I might as well not go) if I have to come back to Texas for a hearing on the matter.