Missing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Payment
Transcript:
Hi, Matt McArthur, bankruptcy attorney, from Clear Counsel here again to talk with you about our latest bankruptcy inquiry that we've received, and today's question is whether or not missing a chapter 13 plan payment is detrimental to your case and what should you do if you can't make a payment?
I Am Your Lawyer; I Don't Represent Anyone's Interest Other Than Yours
First off, let me start out by saying that when you come and retain Clear Counsel Law. When you come and retain me as your bankruptcy attorney, I work for you. I am on your side, and it's extremely important that you tell me about all of the information related to your financial situation, both before you file your chapter 13 case and during your chapter 13 case.
This is going to be a long process of several years, we're going to be working closely together, so it's important that you keep me in the loop so that I can best help you.
Is a Missed Payment the End of the World?
Now, to the question, what happens when you miss a payment. Now, generally speaking, the court's going to require that you make all of those monthly payments in order to be able to confirm a plan and eventually obtain a discharge, and if you don't make those payments, it could potentially be grounds for dismissing your case.
It is a very serious situation, but it may not be fatal, and the sooner you can get your attorney in the loop and get me involved in addressing the issue, the better I'll be able to help you save the plan.
There's a couple different things that might be in play. If you've had a reduction in income, we may be entitled to lower your monthly plan payments, and we might be able to make it a more affordable prospect for you to make those payments going forward.
Another thing that we might be able to do is to roll in the missed payments into the future payments, so we take the missed amount, we spread it out over the remaining months that you still have payments, and that's going to bump up the monthly payments a little bit but it is a way in which you can catch up over time the amount that's been missed.
Don't Hide a Missed Payment From Your Lawyer
The long story short, though, is that the longer you wait to get your attorney involved in this process, the harder it's going to be to fix and to propose something that's going to be affordable to you. If you're serious about saving a chapter 13 plan, please contact your attorney as soon as possible.
If you're my client, please come in and help me help you. The more information that I have, the better I'll be able to represent you. I work for you again, I'm not working for the court, I'm not on the other side, I am on your side.
Please come in and talk with me if you're thinking about filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy and keep in mind that if you were to miss a payment throughout the process, it's not fatal, it's something we can address, you've just got to keep me in the loop.
I look forward to hearing from you soon about filing your chapter 13 case.
My name's Matt McArthur and I'll talk to you soon.
