subject: How Is Your Chapter 13 Plan Payment Determined In Missouri Or Illinois? [print this page] A St Louis bankruptcy attorney prepares a payment plan for you to repay any creditors that must be repaid in a Chapter 13 case. Your first payment will be due to the Trustee 30 days after filing.
It is easy to think that the amount of your plan payment will just be whatever is left over in your budget. The amount of your payment is actually determined by several different factors in your case. What are those factors?
1. The amount of disposable income that is available in your budget. 2. The amount of debt that would have been repaid had you filed a Chapter 7 and the trustee was able to sell off some of your assets. 3. The amount of debt that would fairly be repaid to your creditors, determined by the Means Test created by the 2005 Bankruptcy Amendments 4. The amount of debt required to be repaid in order for you to get a discharge.
Your payment plan can last three to five years. This amount of time allows you to develop more responsible spending habits and practice making decisions that keep you out of debt. Additionally, if your plan lasts longer, your payment can be lower.
The likelihood is that it took you some time to get into enough debt to file a Missouri or Illinois Chapter 13. In turn, getting out of debt may take you some time. Three to five years doesn't seem that long when you realize that you'll be able to protect yourself and your family from the consequences of debt for the rest of your lives.
What are the consequences for not making your plan payments? Your case will be dismissed. Your plan can't be confirmed in the first place if you haven't made the required payments and, if you are into the life of your plan, not making a payment will put you and your family on the dismissal docket. That means that all the work and energy that you put in to making a better life for you and your family will have been for naught.
There is no tool like a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. What other tool can get you protection from foreclosure, credit card debt help, and relief from your creditors and more? To be eligible for those benefits, though, you must not break the rules. Deciding not to make your plan payments isn't something you want to do.
