Overcoming Personal and Legal Challenges

Overcoming Personal and Legal Challenges

Who must approve of your Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan?

If you are eligible for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you should understand how to approve your repayment plan. An essential part of Chapter 13 is coming up with a plan that will pay off at least a substantial amount of your debt. However, other parties will have a say in your plan and may reject it unless you make changes.

The U.S. Courts website describes the different parties you will work with during Chapter 13 bankruptcy and why they may decide your repayment plan has problems.

Your trustee

Going through bankruptcy means you will work with a bankruptcy trustee. Whoever acts as your trustee will have a number of duties, including making payments to your creditors according to your plan. However, your trustee will first review your plan and may object to portions of it. You would likely change the plan to satisfy your trustee’s objections.

Your bankruptcy judge

Once you have composed your plan, you must file it with a bankruptcy judge. Ideally, your judge will approve the plan. However, there are times when bankruptcy judges find fault with a repayment plan and reject it. In the event of a court denial, you would go back and revise the plan, addressing the problems stated by the judge.

Your creditors

Whoever you owe money to will have a say in how your plan turns out. In Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will attend a meeting of creditors where they can ask you questions under oath. Hopefully, this will clear up any concerns your creditors have about your plan.

Still, it is possible a creditor may object to your plan or threaten to make an objection. If the objection is valid, you would change your plan accordingly. Sometimes a repayment plan contains clerical errors that you could easily correct, such as adding a missing creditor to the plan. You may make these changes before or after a judge confirms your plan.

Making your plan work

The fact that you can change your plan at different times shows the flexibility Chapter 13 bankruptcy can offer. Given that a repayment plan is not set in stone, you may be able to adjust your plan for differing circumstances.