What's the next step if the Ttee does not approve the plan.

[mylife]

My trustee has rejected our plan twice, once at the 341 then a week before the next court date. If it is not approved next week, what should our attorney do next? He had said she was being difficult and would file a complaint with the judge but where would that leave us?

Thanks!

[momofthree]

What is the reason for his objecting to your plan? If you and the trustee can't come to an agreement on the plan, then the judge will get the final say.

[mylife]

Thanks mom, I'll have to find the time to type a long story short. When or after how many objections does it go to the judge? I don't want to keep taking time off work to go to court.

[lrprn]

If your trustee and lawyer can't reach an agreement, then as mom says, your local court's bk judge gets involved. Even just one objection that can't be resolved in a timely manner is enough to get the judge involved.

In our case (we had two trustee objections that couldn't be resolved), the process started by our trustee and our lawyer filing briefs stating the legal foundations for each their legal interpretations of the bk law and citing prior case decisions as well. The judge then reviewed the briefs and set a court date. We did have to appear at that court date. Our trustee and our lawyer each answered the judge's questions about their briefs - the whole process took about 30 minutes. We only had to swear in and after that our lawyer handled everything. We weren't asked a single direct question ourselves. Then the judge ended the hearing, deliberated about each argument, and after a few months handed down his final decisions about both objections (in our case, we won one argument and our trustee won the other).

It's not the end of the world to have objections not be resolved and have to move up the legal chain to the judge (although it does feel like it when you find out there are issues with your case that aren't easily resolved). While all the legal wrangling goes on, you just keep making your plan payments on time while you wait it out. Eventually your case will be confirmed - it just won't be on the "no problems" timeline of other Ch 13 filers.

Sounds like your lawyer has a good relationship with your local bk judge - hopefully whatever communication goes on between your lawyer and the judge will resolve whatever issue your trustee is being unreasonable about. That is the most likely thing that will happen. But even if it doesn't, it's not the end of the world. Hubby and I are living proof of that

[mylife]

Thanks lrprn, good information. We'll see what happens on Wednesday.

[mylife]

We received a continuance. So here we go...

[Cristo]

Don't worry too much. I am in Maryland too and I filed July 2010. My case was continued 2 times. My last confirmation hearing was scheduled for March 1st. My plan was confirmed but there was a hold put on it for 10 days to give a notice requirement time to run out. I thought my confirmation order would be issued today but so far it is not on Pacer.

In my case, the trustee finally dropped all their objections and I was able to stay with my original proposed plan payment. My payment is pretty much just back taxes and my car payment with very little going to unsecured creditors. If your attorney is willing to fight for you, and not just go along with what they want, you should be allright. As others have said, the judge is the final decider of the issues, not the Trustee.

[mylife]

Cristo,

Who is your trustee or what are their initials? My ttee's intials are Ms. E.C. Same here, she said not enough going to unsecureds but that's because it appears that we owe the IRS $10k instead of a few hundred.