In Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 I discussed various things that can be attempted to save a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Plan if you are having difficulty making the Plan payments.
You have discussed these various options with your attorney and none of them are available to you.
When all else fails a voluntary dismissal of your case may be necessary.
Under the Bankruptcy Code a debtor may dismiss his Chapter 13 bankruptcy at any time unless the case was already converted from a Chapter 7.
There are a number of reasons why you might wish to consider a voluntary dismissal of your bankruptcy if you cannot make the Chapter 13 Plan payments:
- Generally speaking the dismissal puts both you and the creditors back at square one, with the exception that the creditors may have received some payments through the Plan that could make it now possible to negotiate a settlement of the debt that would not have been possible before filing for bankruptcy.
- Some of your creditors may have been paid in full before the dismissal and are no longer an issue.
- If you have assets that are not exempt in a Chapter 7 you may wish to dismiss rather than convert to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or have the case converted against your will.
The decision on whether to voluntarily dismiss a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a serious one and should be made only after consulting with an experienced bankruptcy attorney.
Comments on this entry are closed.