Tax return concern/question. Lawyer not returning calls

[stlrs]

Hello all. Hope everyone is doing well.

Here's my situation.

I'm 18 payments into my 60 payment plan. It's a very simple plan - no mortgage, cars etc.

I was told last Feb. by my lawyer my taxes have zero to do w/ my plan. The plan was drawn up w/o that and my refunds are mine to keep. In the past year I have had a baby. I didn't tell my lawyer since my plan is so simple and payment is a small amount. I figured that would only benefit me anyway since my expenses are now way higher than when I filed. It's not like I'm hiding something that would give me extra money. I figured I would just keep going rather than trying to get payment lowered.

That being said, my return this year is much higher because of baby. Since my plan does not include handing over returns does this mean my trustee probably won't even look into it? Should I inform my lawyer? If I do I'm guessing my plan will totally have to be done over since my expenses are much more now.

I'm in a 100% payback and I'm under the impression when you're in that they normally don't ask for returns.

Input?

Thanks

[lrprn]

Give your lawyer a call. First tell him/her about the new baby (which you should have done anyway - and congrats on the addition to the family!). Next explain about the higher tax refund. Sounds like your lawyer built keeping your refunds into your plan, but your trustee may have a maximum number of refund dollars that can be kept (our trustee did - our tax refund limit was $1800/year - anything over that went to our creditors. You can bet we made sure we never got a tax refund over $1800 any of our five years! ).

Given what your lawyer told you before, chances are the tax refund won't matter, but it's better to find that out now than later. And anytime it's possible an amended plan can result in a significantly lower payment, it's worth pursuing if the costs to amend the case are worth it in the end. Even a hundred extra dollars a month adds up over the years to a goodly sum.