WOW new surprise...another baby on the way...questions about hospital, 401K

[Licoriceky2]

Hello everyone,
Over the last 8 months since we filed and were eventually confirmed, we had become accustom to the new way of life and had “found our feet” so to speak. Now we just learned much to our surprise we are pregnant again and due in the fall. We have started to save, but it meager to say the best.

A few questions to you all:

1. We filed on our local hospital where I will be delivered in the fall. What should I expect from them? Should I call in advance and explain and ask what they will require of me or should I make no move and see what will happen when the time comes? My husband is of the thought that I should just not say anything and everything will go smoothly, however I worry that I might better serve the situation by calling and inquiring in advance.

2. We are only paying back approx. $6,500.00 in arrears on our house and $23,000.00 on our truck note. We have been paying the trustee since June, and we are in a 0% payback to unsecured. What relief, if any, can I seek or expect from the trustee with the addition to the family in September?

3. If the pregnancy is successful and full term, there will be expenses that are unavoidable such as necessity items and hospital bills. We had given some thought that we could borrow against my husbands 401K and repay through automatic payroll deduction the loan. However, is this allowed in an active 13? Do I have to “clear” it through the trustee?

4. Off the subject of the new addition, we are going to owe taxes this year for the first time, in the ball park of several thousand dollars. We have obviously made changes to our withholdings for this year, but we are going to have a debt that we are unable to pay in a lump sum to the IRS. What payment options are available to me?

Thank you all for the help and advise.

[BookGoddess]

Just putting an option out there for you to consider, a homebirth? My last 2 babies I had at home, they cost 3k each and the midwife took payments and while I had hospital births, home births where so much better for both baby and I. Studies show homebirths are just as safe as hospital births in healthy pregnancy, not to mention soooo much cheaper. (Though for us we have insurance that would have covered the hospital births 100%, but we chose home births for other reasons than money.)

[Lissy]

You really need to discuss all of this with your attorney. Normally, I think a new baby would mean you would have to amend your plan to account for the increased expenses. However, if you are only paying back arrears on your mortgage and your car payment, I don't know if decreasing your payment is an option for you. Maybe the addition to your family would now make you eligible for conversion to a Chapter 7? And the tax debt could get you into some trouble as well, since you incurred it (for the most part) after you filed. Again, speak to your attorney.

[Licoriceky2]

Hi BookGoddess, sadly for me, a home birth is not an option. Medical reason require me to have a c-section.

Thank you both for your thoughts!

[sealpup]

Congrats! I just recently found out we are expecting and due in the fall as well. We are about a month away from filing, but I do have similar questions. I am hoping that this will make us more likely to be able to do a 7 over a 13, or if we will have to start in a 13 convert to a 7 when our family officially grows. We are going to be putting the hospital on our creditors list too, so I wonder as well if I need to worry about this or not. I'm with you- I'd rather know and not have any surprises! If you get some clear answers from your attorney and wouldn't mind posting them, I'd be interested. With my hospital you can pre-register. I was considering trying to do that early and assume if there is an issue before I am admitted, they will call us?

[steveok]

I have heard that having a tax debt after you file chapter 13 is workable. From what I understand, call the IRS and they will work with you.

[momofthree]

Being that you are in a 0% plan, the only option available to you would be to surrender the truck or surrender the home. You just don't have any wiggle room if you want to keep your assets, aside from adjusting your current standard of living.

[papie]

1.) It depends on the hospital. Hospitals cannot deny emergency medical treatment, being pregnant is not an emergency though. It's unusual for a hospital to deny a patient just because they filed bankruptcy but it does happen. They are much more likely to keep you on as a patient if you have a verified source of payment. If you are uninsured you may have more issues with them because they are going to see that you are uninsured and in bankruptcy......they have no guaranteed payment in that case. Also, if you filed bankruptcy on the services of a specific physician there's a possibility that he may not take you on as a patient again. You may have to use a different ob/gyn within the hospital. I would simply call the hospital billing office and ask them. You don't have to give them your name. I would really really hate for you to have to switch doctors or hospitals halfway through your pregnancy because the hospital made the connection that you filed bankruptcy on them and they decide to stop having you as a patient. That would not be a good situation for you or baby. There are some hospitals out there who have really strict practices and others that just don't care.

2.) I don't think you'll see any relief. If you are already in a 60 month plan and just paying secured creditors, there isn't much relief they can give you unless you want to give up the house or the truck. Have you looked into a Chapter 7?

3.) You would have to get it cleared the the trustee I *think.* You could ask your lawyer just in case. If you're already strapped for cash, adding a new payment isn't going to help. I'm not sure that would be very kosher with the trustee either. I would think it would throw up some big red flags.

4.) Call the IRS, they're always happy to discuss how they can suck some more money out of you. They do have installment payment plans and things of that nature, although I don't know the specifics.

[MOMof3]

You will need to talk to your attorney. I had two babies born during our 13 (my name should be momof4, I was preggo when we filed & then had baby #4 last year) & never amended our plan--mostly because we got a good plan to begin with & have gotten raises--our attorney advised not to rock the boat if we didn't need to. Both of my babies were born at home--nice to see another homebirth mommy here, I have insurance though, so there was no out of pocket expenses for our midwife. I can't imagine a hospital can legally deny you access, but I've heard of many requiring up front deposits now. We were allowed to borrow from our 401k w/out notifying our trustee since the amount was less than 5K--but again talk to your attorney & modify your plan if you can at all!! As for the taxes, we ended up owing in year 3 of our plan and are making payments outside the plan of $50/month. Good luck with your pregnancy!