Sample Payment Plan Payments/spending money?

[dyarlett]

My wife and I are filing Chapter 13 as soon as we get all of our paperwork together. I'm filling out the monthly budget worksheet and started to wonder how much our payment is going to be in our payment plan and also if we will have "free" money to go out to dinner and do some fun and enjoy some entertainment. I'm not looking to eat expensive dinners and spends hundreds of dollars on entertainment, but maybe a nice meal out at Olive Garden and bowling or something like that.

If you guys that have filed CH 13 don't mind, could you give me an example of your monthly payment and if you have "free" money.

Thanks in advance!

[sunshinepa]

Hi dyarlett.

In pa too..........nice to see you.

I don't really have an answer but if you search the threads, there are some updates on people who are in 13's on here. My atty. advised me today that if I went ch 13, my payment would be 166.00 a month. Under median income and he put expenses higher than I thought.....not sure what route I am taking as I can do a CH7 if my mortage analysis comes in with the right amount of equity.

Regardless, as I said, search the threads/posts in CH 13 or look at the sticky posts ........I've read good and bad comments on how people live.

Welcome and good luck!

[lrprn]

@dyarlett, there's zero relationship between the amount of a filer's monthly Ch 13 payment and how much "cash cushion" that filer may have. There are *MANY* variables that determine how much cash is left over for voluntary activities each month. The amount will vary month to month as well as unexpected expenses come up to eat away at whatever cushion there might be.

Your very best bet to ensure you have a livable plan that allows those simple pleasures you listed is to interview multiple Ch 13-experienced bk lawyers in your area, then retain the very best one you can find (and that's often not the cheapest or the most expensive one either).

Putting together a Ch 13 plan that has sufficient "give" in it to work for three to five long years is much more an art than a science. Many Ch 13 filers fail simply because their lawyer didn't know enough or didn't care enough to craft their plan well.

Often Ch 13 filers put off basic expenses - medical care, car and home repair, new clothes, etc for years trying to stay afloat. Even though you may not have spent any money on these six months before filing, an excellent Ch 13 lawyer will still make reasonable adjustments to include these expenses in the plan.

An excellent Ch 13 lawyer is very familiar with what your trustee will accept and won't accept. That's the key. Including every single legally allowable expense at its maximum allowed goes a long way to being ultimately successful in Ch 13. That's what a great Ch 13 attorney can do for you - create a liveable plan that your trustee will confirm. That's priceless.

[LadyInTheRed]

dyarlett, my plan payment is $500, but that says nothing about what your payment will be. Every plan is different as it depends on each debtor's very specific situation. As lprn points out, the key is to get a good attorney who will work to get you a livable plan. I have a good attorney and with a little disipline on my part am living quite easily, even when unexpected expenses come up like a smashed car window.

You are allowed an entertainment/recreation item in your budget, but how much you use for that purpose will depend on how you manage your spending. My husband and I don't go out much. But, that's because we prefer to spend the money on good food and wine. We can eat as well as we would in a nice restaurant at a fraction of the cost. For instance, we love sushi and occassionally buy enough fish to slice more sashimi than we could possibly afford in a restaurant. Yum!!!! Our recreation is free things like walking in the woods. It's all about choices. If you want to go bowling, and have a meal at the Olive Garden every now and then, with a well written plan and discipline in your spending, you should be able to find the money to do that.

[Okieblue]

Our plan has $300 worth of medical a month, $175 for special tutoring, we actually pay $360 for this a month and hope to have Jr. caught up by the end of the summer. I think we are pretty lucky with our plan compared to some, we're not poor, but we certainly aren't getting rich, we're getting by. I just got a part time on call job, 4-20 hours a week. I need to tell my lawyer about it and hope the trustee won't want my minimum wage checks. We need to replace everything from the vacuum cleaner to the hole in the door that one of the kids made.

[jetsfan2010]

If you arent used to living on a true budget, it may be a bit of a shock at first, but like many have already said, a good lawyer should create a plan that no matter how much your payment is still affiords you "some" wiggle room for emergencies/etc.

[pete42]

Dyarlett,

We are paying $2500/month but that includes are mortgage payment and both cars plus 25% of unsecured debt. Honestly we have more money now than we did before we filed although we have learned to budget our spending better. We have 2 kids and still take vacations and go out to dinner once in awhile. Some months are tougher than others depending on my O.T. but I believe the key is getting a good attorney. Our attorney told us from the start that he would low ball them with the unsecured debt % and hope for the best and it worked out. We were confirmed in January.

[woeisme]

I agree with Pete, we have more $ now than before we filed. Heck, I have $ in savings for emergencies, something I used credit cards for in the past! Some of that is because I really changed how I spent $, questioning "is it a want or a need?" a lot more honestly. But some of it is because like lrprn said, it was working with a good attorney to get a feasible plan. When I first went in, the attorney ran a quick run of the #'s and guesstimated our plan to be around $1200. Not great, but I thought livable. Then we went back in when we decided to file for sure with all the paperwork, and the attorney said 100% payback (~$1600/mo) and I almost started crying right on the spot! (they had just run the means test the 1st time, where SS was exempt, but for the full-blown CH 13 paperwork some funds that didn't show up when running means test were included in disposable income, specifically my stepson's social security survivor's benefits). I knew there was no way we could do this, $1200 was cutting it close as is! I was ready to just say forget the whole thing, but lawyer started brainstorming with us over possible expenses we weren't taking, and before you know it, half an hour later we were down to a $1100/month payment! I was thrilled. And that same lawyer went to bat for us a few years later when hubby became disabled and worked to get our payment down to $400/month. It was a BK mill lawyer, believe it or not, but she's been great and never charged us a dime for the motion to suspend payments while we were waiting for disability checks to start, a motion to incur debt (needed a new vehicle) and the motion to change the plan payment. So getting a good lawyer is real important, I'm in my 4th year and am going to be one of those rare breeds who successfully finishes a CH 13 in 18 months, barring any catastrophes!