More CH13 Questions...it's a struggle

[DeepBreaths]

I apologize in advance if this is not where I should be posting these questions. I have searched and didn't find much. It may be that I need information particular to my case. So here goes....

We had our 341 meeting in early June and are still not confirmed. It was because we were told our car lease payment was coming our of our trustee payment when it never was. So, at the meeting, the trustee asked our lawyer to file a motion for the car lease. So here we sit...still waiting. We have been making our payments to the trustee on time. Making our lease payment and our mortgage. When we filed I worked full time...now I am part time. Our atty (the girl in his office, not him directly) told us we have to wait to file a modification to lower the payment until after we are confirmed. My income has gone down more than $400 per month. We are struggling. We are struggling just like we were before we even filed. We have questions...calls and emails to our atty have not been returned. Why my DH hired this particular atty, I don't know why. We both went into this with no where else to turn. The reviews for his services are terrible...same service he is giving us.

My question is...is there any way to fire him and get a new atty to help us through this? I feel like he didn't fight for us at all. We went in...met with him. Told him what bills we owe, told him what we make and he said "you have to file bk13, you make too much money". When we look at the HUGE pile of paperwork from him we are confused. One paper states that we are -$400 per month. Yes, we are in the red each month. We thought maybe we could squeeze into a BK7 but he had nothing to say to us about it and we never asked. We trusted him in what he told us. Now he ignores us.

My stomach is in knots each day, every day, every minute. We are trying to raise 3 young school aged children and it's nearly impossible.

Any help anyone can give would be very greatly appreciated!

~DB

[justbroke]

You do not need to wait to be confirmed to modify an "unconfirmed" Plan. You just file an amendment and serve it on all the creditors. You need to demand, in a firm but respectable way, to have a meeting with your attorney immediately (this week). You need to tell the attorney, and the paralegal, that your income has decreased. You need to stay on top of this and demand to be seen by the attorney him/herself.

If you are trying to save property, such as a home or car, you may have filed Chapter 13 for that reason.

If your income now supports a Chapter 7, you can ask for a conversion. However, you must realize that the numbers are all based on what they were when you filed (those 6 months preceding the filing). You could let the Chapter 13 dismiss and then refile a Chapter 7 but you need to be really sure about your numbers and where you sit.

I would be on the phone making a demand for an appointment as soon as I read this.

[DeepBreaths]

Just talked to my DH. Our case is supposedly confirmed tomorrow. Ha...I'll believe when I see it. We've asked many of time since my income has changed for a modification and we've been told we must wait at least a month until after confirmation. Are they not telling us the truth?

"If your income now supports a Chapter 7, you can ask for a conversion. However, you must realize that the numbers are all based on what they were when you filed (those 6 months preceding the filing). You could let the Chapter 13 dismiss and then refile a Chapter 7 but you need to be really sure about your numbers and where you sit." You wrote the above. My question...so even if my income has dropped they will still always look at what the numbers were when we initially filed? How can we, even if we are able to, convert to a 7 if they only look at those numbers? I'm so sorry...I believe I am confused and of course I know not much about this whole process. I am trying to learn as I go but with an atty like mine I feel like I am learning the wrong rules.

We own a home...well...we have a mortgage on it. We have never been late. Are we even able to have filed/been eligible for a 7 with a mortgage? Again, I do not know many of the rules. We went in not even thinking about a 13 since we owed so much in unsecured debt.

Thanks in advance.

[justbroke]

For a Chapter 13, changes in income happen and there is a mechanism to modify the payments. This is known as a plan modification. Plan modifications can only be done on a confirmed plan. If your income does not support the plan and you are not able to live (eat, provide shelter), then an immediate plan modification request is necessary. If you have already been waiting 2 months and they're saying another month, then there is something really wrong. If your attorney won't file a Motion to Modify Confirmed Plan, then your attorney should ask the Trustee to forbear or temporarily reduce your payments.

Conversion to a Chapter 7 will require a review of your numbers to see if you fit a Chapter 7. What I wrote about qualification, is that it's much easier to deal with conversion when your original numbers already supported a Chapter 7.

You could also have what is known as an infeasible plan. That is, that since you are now part time, you can't afford your Chapter 13 plan because there is not enough money to pay the "required" parts of your plan. In other words, your mortgage, attorney fees, and priority taxes take up all your money anyhow. Any reduction in income makes it very difficult to afford the Chapter 13 and you should not be in that position.

[frogger]

And just another thought about your plan. You filed in June and it's not confirmed? In my area, that is not unusual. It is taking 12 - 18 months for plans to be approved in my district.