Joliet Bankruptcy Attorney On Court Approval Of A Chapter 13 Plan

According to Joliet bankruptcy attorney, David Siegel, the court will approve a Chapter 13 plan if the debtor has satisfied all of the elements required under the Bankruptcy Code.  For example, all required fees must have been paid and all pre-bankruptcy filing requirements must’ve been satisfied.  Additionally, the debtor must show that the amount that he or she is paying through the trustee each month is the amount available per their monthly income and monthly expenses.  Also, the plan must have been proposed in good faith and the creditors must be getting back in a Chapter 13 at least what they would be getting back if the case was one of Chapter 7 liquidation.  All priority claims must be paid in full and unsecured creditors must be paid either all or a portion of the debt that is owed to them over a 3 to 5 year period.

The debtor must satisfy the Bankruptcy Code in that they are putting all of their disposable income towards a plan.  This factor is probably the most difficult among all the different factors to get confirmed because the trustee might argue that you are not putting all of your available income towards your plan and that you should be paying more.  The debtor and the debtor’s attorney want to make it as affordable as possible so that the client can have success.  Because of this fact, the debtor and the debtor’s attorney might have certain budgetary items that are higher than normal or not even allowed under the Bankruptcy Code which would provide for a lower monthly plan payment.  So if you can get past the trustee’s objections to your budget issues and you get all the necessary documents filed and required under the Bankruptcy Code, then you have a pretty decent shot at getting your case confirmed by the bankruptcy court.

 The one thing that I left out is that you must begin making your monthly plan payment.  Within 30 days after your cases filed, your first plan payment under the Bankruptcy Code is due.  Your confirmation hearing will be after the date which your first plan payment is due.  I have seen many cases not get confirmed solely for the reason that the debtor did not commence making monthly plan payments.  Thus, I required the first plan payment in advance so that the minute the cases filed, I can submit those funds to the trustee.  This way, when the debtor appears at the 341 meeting of creditors, there is already a down payment in the coffers of the trustee.  The trustee then can recommend confirmation or at least not have that excuse that the debtor is not current with the trustee payments in order to avoid not recommending their case.  

So if everything goes well and the debtor has done all that’s required under the Bankruptcy Code and the debtor has started to make payments, then there is a pretty good chance that the trustee is going to stand up and recommend that that client’s case be recommended for confirmation under the Bankruptcy Code.