Filing!

[pilkerton21]

Signed the papers yesterday and the attorney will be filing today!!

We are filing with a payment of $140 for 36 months with the possibility of the payment going to $340 after my car is paid off in 18 months.

I am happy with this. What do we expect next with the 341 meeting? Does the trustee usually try to raise the payment? Our attorney seemed confident that this was a good set up and the trustee may want some receipts to verify some expenses.

[justbroke]

The 341 Meeting is a breeze for Chapter 13 filers. The Trustee will have reviewed the Chapter 13 plan and will make recommendations. The Trustee may or may not find an area where they think the payment should be higher. My Trustee didn't question my DMI and payment at all. It was two creditors that did. LOL (One automobile creditor and my mortgage creditor. It had to do with interest rates.)

If your attorney is confident, then you should be too.

[pilkerton21]

What kind of recommendations?

Thanks for the information! I have a car payment that will be paid outside of the plan, other than that we have no secured debt, so hopefully that won't be a problem.

[justbroke]

The recommendations could be related to items on your Schedules or on your Means Test. The recommendations may or may not affect your payment rate. I had no recommendations, but Chapter 13 Trustees sometimes want the Means Test and Schedule I/J to be consistent, or they may not like that you have items on Line 47 that you are surrendering. It just depends on the District and the Trustee.

I am sure that your attorney has worked with this particular Trustee before and that you will probably have no "recommendations". Usually, the Trustee just recommends the Plan for confirmation because there is nothing that needs to be updated/changed.

[pilkerton21]

Yes, it's a small town and there is generally one trustee that travels here from an hour away to do bankruptcy meetings when needed. My attorney has worked with this trustee many times before and generally knows his MO. I am excited to get this underway and get it finished!

[pilkerton21]

Just got filing paperwork in the mail and the attorney changed it to say:

$140 for 18 months (until car is paid off)
$340 for 36 months

He didn't say anything to us about the change, is this normal? Last we had spoken to him, he was proposing $140 for 18 months/$340 for 18 months=total of 36 months!

I guess he figures we have a better chance like this and it doesn't really matter because come September we will be dismissing and filing a Chapter 7.

Another thing, we have a payment to the town we live in for a past water bill that he has listed as a priority tax debt. We discussed this several times that it wasn't taxes, does it matter?

[Pandora]

I guess he figures we have a better chance like this and it doesn't really matter because come September we will be dismissing and filing a Chapter 7.

How do you plan on converting when you are already showing positive DMI to fund a Ch. 13 plan?

[pilkerton21]

How do you plan on converting when you are already showing positive DMI to fund a Ch. 13 plan?

We are well under means and currently qualify for a 7, but dh had already filed a 7 in September of 2003 so he is unable to file another 7 until after September. We had to get a little creative (with our attorney's help) to find a positive DMI to fund a 13 and keep a current garnishment from completely putting us under water!

Plus we just found out we are expecting another child in November so this will also change the dynamics of our finances!