plan modification for child support

[lbrown]

I am filing a motion to lower my bk pyment of about 500/month to about 300/month now that I have been ordered to pay child support, is there a chance that the Trustee or Judge will not allow for this reason?

[justbroke]

You will need to file a Motion to Modify Confirmed Plan. You need to follow your local rules (or FRBP) on whether that needs to be served on all creditors; it certainly needs to be served on the Trustee and UST.

Court-ordered support payments are a valid expense. You may want to file a new Form B22C (Means Test) and a new Form J, but I don't know your local procedures. The item is on Form B22C as "Other Necessary Expenses" on line 33. It specifically reads... "[e]nter the total monthly amount that you are required to pay pursuant to court order, such as spousal or child support payments. Do not include payments on past due support obligations included in Line 49."

Now, the next question is whether reducing your DMI will make your plan feasible. You may have other things that affect your plan payment. That would be known as the "Chapter 7 liquidation test" where you need to pay "at least" a certain amount into the plan to cover non-exempt assets.

You may want to look at your Judge's schedules over the past year... find a couple of cases where a Plan Modification was proposed... and look through the papers filed and how the rulings/orders were made.