Making the Chapter 13 Plan Work

The Chapter 13 Plan and Confirmation Hearing
Unless the court grants an extension, the debtor must file a repayment plan with the petition or within 14 days after the petition is filed.  A plan must be submitted for court approval and must provide for payments of fixed amounts to the trustee on a regular basis, typically monthly. The trustee then distributes the funds to creditors according to the terms of the plan, which may offer creditors less than full payment on their claims.

How Chapter 13 Works

Chapter 13 Eligibility

Any individual, even if self-employed or operating an unincorporated business, is eligible for chapter 13 relief as long as the individual's unsecured debts are less than $360,475 and secured debts are less than $1,081,400.  These amounts are adjusted periodically to reflect changes in the consumer price index. A corporation or partnership may not be a chapter 13 debtor.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
A chapter 13 bankruptcy is also called a wage earner's plan. It enables individuals with a regular income to develop a plan to repay all or part of their debts.

Tommy needs to file bankruptcy.

In In re Pamela Persaud, case No. 12-43602-CEC, US Bankruptcy Court, EDNY, February 4, 2013 involved the Means Test, the presumption of abuse and what expenses can be deducted in calculating the Means Test. On Line 17 of the Means Test, the Debtor deducted $5,742.19 form the total monthly income as a "marital adjustment", which she claimed is income of her husband that was not regularly contributed for household expenses.

In re Mary Veronica Santiago-Monteverde No. 11-15494 (JMP) SDNY April 10, 2012,  is another case where a bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York held that a bankruptcy trustee was allowed to sell a debtor's rent stabilized lease to her landlord. Ms. Mary Veronica Santiago-Monteverde  lived in the East Village, in New York and after she filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, her landlord, East 7th Street Development Corp. made an offer to the Bankruptcy Trustee to purchase her interest in the lease.

Bankruptcy Glossary
A

adversary proceeding

A lawsuit arising in or related to a bankruptcy case that is commenced by filing a complaint with the court. A nonexclusive list of adversary proceedings is set forth in Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7001.

assume

An agreement to continue performing duties under a contract or lease.

automatic stay

Can You File Bankruptcy If You Have Unfiled Tax Returns?  Yes, but it’s a bad idea.  However, there is a solution.  In addition to practicing bankruptcy law, I am a tax lawyer as well.  I can prepare and file your tax returns for you, and make sure that your case is setup to handle any tax issues.
If you think that you owe back taxes the IRS, we need to get your tax returns filed as soon as possible.  There are a variety of solutions to tax debt that are available to you, but they all require you to get all of your late returns filed.
Chapter 7