Riverside Chapter 13 Timeline 

Before you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Riverside County, you will need to attend an approved credit counseling session. Once you have completed this counseling session, you are eligible to file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. You will be required to present a repayment plan to the court for review. The repayment plan must satisfy certain requirements such as:

·         You must be able to pay off all priority debt within 3 to 5 years (with a few exceptions).

·         Your proposed payments must at least equal the value of any nonexempt assets you hold.

·         You plan must also commit your entire disposable income to payment of debts during the repayment period.

Note that you do not have to pay off non-priority debts, and if your disposable income is used wholly to pay off priority debt, your repayment plan will still be confirmed, if your other creditors would receive the same amount if you filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Make certain that you are scrupulously accurate when it comes to creating your Chapter 13 budget – you will be expected to live within the budget if the court approves your repayment plan. This means that the disposable income you list must be used entirely to pay off your bills. Having a qualified Riverside County Bankruptcy Attorney to help with this process can ensure that you make a repayment plan that is accurate, reasonable, and viable for your particular situation.

Once the court approves your repayment plan, a trustee will be appointed to supervise your estate and collect the payments as you have outlined in the repayment plan. Just as in a Chapter 7, you will be expected to attend a meeting of creditors, in which your debts and liabilities will be fully disclosed to the trustee – however, you must begin to make payments within 30 days of court acceptance of the payment plan, even if your case is ongoing.

During your repayment period, you must make timely payments to the trustee. Additionally, any credit-related matters must be submitted to the trustee for review and approval.  You must also submit any large expenditures to the court, who will typically disapprove of anything deemed ‘non-essential’. Basically, your spending will be supervised by the courts for the duration of the repayment period, and all of your disposable income must be directed towards the repayment plan for that duration. You will also be required to pay the trustee a fee for handling your case – typically, this is added into the payment plan, and is part of the monthly disbursement to creditors.

Because Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be complex, with various requirements, guidelines, and timelines to follow, it is in your best interests to hire a Riverside County Bankruptcy Attorney who fully understands the laws and the courts, and who is experienced in successfully helping clients to obtain a Chapter 13 payment plan that can be approved by the courts. If you are considering filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Riverside County, contact us today and arrange for a free initial case evaluation to get a better idea of the full requirements you’ll need to meet in order to benefit from a Chapter 13 filing.