Chapter 13 timeline and is our trustee crazy?

[teddybeardj]

Hello everyone. Our significant dates are in my signature below.

I am anxious to get the plan underway. Our plan proposal has until some time in January, 2011 to be objected to by any of our creditors. We attended our 341 and no creditors made an appearance.

I am just hanging on waiting for word on what will happen from here. I found through pacer that seven claims have been filed so far. Our attorney has not notified me about anything. He even didn't appear to our 341 hearing, he sent a lackey for that.

My question is, since we filed on September 8, 2010 for a three year plan, when should we expect to get approval of the plan or confirmation or whatever will tell us that our plan is accepted and the payment is acceptable or if an adjustment is going to be needed???

Also is it just me or does the trustee system seem to set you up for failure? The trustee is the only entity that will only take certain forms of payment. They won't accept check, debit, bank transfer, automatic payment. They won't even accept a money transfer from my employer. My employer has to send a check every paycheck. I have no idea if they received the payment. It seems like my first notification that a payment was missed is my only advance notice of a problem and I don't want the case dismissed for lack of payment that my employer mislabeled the payment to or whatever the case might be. Like I said it seems its set up to fail in some way. Whats the deal with the crazy trustee requirements?

Thanks for answering both questions.

Filed 09/08/10, $26k unsecured. Plan submitted 09/16/10, $250/mo X 36 Months = $9,000.
First Payment: 09/28/10 341 Hearing: 10/12/10, Confirmation: ??????
Light at the end of the tunnel: September, 2013

[LadyInTheRed]

Unless you made preference payments or incurred significant debt right before filing, I doubt any creditor's will object. Did the trustee say at the 341 whether she will recommend confirmation? Was any further documentation requested? Were any issues raised?

Your trustee has a timeline on her website that outlines how things should happen in a Chap 13: http://www.13law.com/debtorinformati...leofevents.htm

If that doesn't answer your questions, you can call your attorney and ask about the status and when you will know if the case is confirmed. It is your attorney's job to keep you informed.

I agree that it's ridiculous that the trustee will not accept electronic payment. It seems that allowing someone to set up an automatic payment through their bank would reduce the number of late payments. Not sure why they won't allow it. Probably an administrative issue of making sure payments get credited correctly. But, if banks can do it, why can't a trustee?

Assuming your trustee uses it, register at https://www.13datacenter.com/index.asp. You can go there every month to see if your payment has been received.

[NowImDownInIt]

Your plan sounds crazy like my original. I don't think you'll have any issues with confirmation. It's common for your attorney not to accompany you to your 341. He doesn't sound crazy at all. Sounds like you have a really good plan. My base was 27K and I had a $700 payment for 36 months originally.

Trustees use payroll deduction for security and companies are used to paying out checks, etc. Don't worry so much! I know how easy it is to freak out in the beginning but I think you are fine.

I don't think everyone needs Pacer, but you sound to me like someone who can benefit from the information it provides. You will know when your confirmed as soon as it enters the system, that way. Just like I did in the beginning.

My trustee uses www.13network.com for making information available to me. So if yours doesn't use datacenter, maybe he uses this?

[kornellred]

Your attorney or trustee will inform you of the confirmation hearing date. Quite often, and, from what I have heard and experienced personally, the plan as submitted by the attorney is not approved at the first hearing. The trustee will attempt to make adjustments here and there to allowable expenses in order to maximize the payment to the creditors - that is their job. My own plan payment of $300 per month was raised to $311 per month and the plan was confirmed by the Court 2 months after the original hearing date. Unsecured creditors rarely object - it does them no good.

Plan payments are made in the form which the trustee specifies. Quite a lot of them demand payment via wage orders. Most of those who do not require this will insist on a form of payment which is guaranteed, such as money orders or certified bank checks.

For a lot of folks, Chapter 13 is no picnic. It's a long, long haul.

[Pandora]

As the others have said, try not to worry. Sign up for 13datacenter if your trustee uses it, and you can keep track of payments that way (along with claims filed). We got lucky with our trustee - he takes any kind of payment - however we opted to do payroll deduction and just have hubby's work pay the trustee directly. We were paying it ourselves every month via personal check, but its much easier this way.

[teddybeardj]

Thanks everyone for replying. Some answers to your questions... We didn't have any unusual charges or payments before filing. The trustee didn't say anything about the confirmation or ask for any other documents. She just asked the same questions to everyone in the room. I don't know if my answer to what caused this situation was very funny in retrospect. I honestly said stupidity. We were stupid to think that rebuilding credit was a good thing to do. That answer was only the start of our mess...what pushed is over the edge was all the credit card reforms that doubled our interest rate and changed them from fixed to variable. Overnight every single credit card kicked us in the butt, so stupidity was the start and Credit Card company greed was the catalyst.
I looked on the chap 13 outline that LadyInTheRed suggested. I didn't understand a lot of it, but it gives me a guide on what to expect. I have called my Attorney, sent emails, he doesn't respond. The only thing I can do is just sit back and shut my mouth and wait to be told what is happening.

One thing I read on the trustees website is the confirmation hearing. Is that similar to the 341 hearing? What happens at the confirmation hearing?

[LadyInTheRed]

The confirmation hearing is not like the 341. I don't think debtor's are usually required to attend the hearing. In fact, often times there is no actual hearing at all. In some districts, like mine, if nobody objects to the plan, there is no actual hearing. Your attorney submits an order and the judge signs it. It appears from Nebraska local rule 3015-2E, that your attorney doesn't even need to submit an order. If nobody objects to the plan within 14 days after the confirmation hearing, the court clerk enters an order approving the plan. Local rules are at http://www.13law.com/pdf/20050401_Ne...ptcy_Rules.pdf. Check Pacer late next week and you may find a confirmation order. But, it may also take the court clerk a while to enter it. If there is an objection, a confirmation hearing will be set and either your attorney will negotiate an acceptable modified plan with the objector or appear at the hearing to defend your plan in front of the judge.