Hypothetical Ch 13 questions....

[6speed8]

This is just hypothetical. Why? Now that I've cleared Ch 7, got a car and cleaning up my credit, the next step in the 3-4 years is for us to buy a house. With the economy so up and down as it is, I'm just considering our future.

1. My Ch 7 discharged June 2015 and I know I can't file again for 10 years. So if say 7 years from now, we're a few years into a mortgage and for unforseen reasons, we fall behind. The mortgage would be in both of our names. Can we jointly file a Ch 13 to save the house ? Or since my Ch 7 would only be 8 years old at that time, I cannot be on ANY bankruptcy filing ? Or is it simply I cannot file another Ch 7 ?

2. Say we do file a CH 13 to save the house. Are banks obligated to accept the bankruptcy terms or can they forclose anyway ?

Like I said, this is just hypothetical. I just like to plan all aspects, good and bad. Any input would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

You have to wait 4 years from the filing of your 7 before you can file a 13.  There is nothing you can do at the moment until that time.  We were in the same place, and had to file a 13 because of a failed business.  Luckily we were just a month past the 4 year mark from our personal 7.  I hope you are not assuming you can jump right in a file a 13 now.  You wont be able to until sometime in 2019.  

[6speed8]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You have to wait 4 years from the filing of your 7 before you can file a 13.  There is nothing you can do at the moment until that time.  We were in the same place, and had to file a 13 because of a failed business.  Luckily we were just a month past the 4 year mark from our personal 7.  I hope you are not assuming you can jump right in a file a 13 now.  You wont be able to until sometime in 2019.  

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Thanks. And no we're not jumping into Ch 13 right now lol. As I stated, this is all hypothetical. We got married 4 months after my Ch 7 discharged. I filed alone and we did not and do not own our own property right now. We will not be in the position to even buy for at least 3-4 years as it is, so my query is about 5 or more years down the road IF, big IF, the economy falls apart, hubby looses a job,etc.

[Anonymous]

1) Yes, you could file a Chapter 13 at that point.  Either by yourself or jointly.

2) All lenders, including the bank that holds the mortgage/lien on the house, must abide by the rules and the payment structure set up in your plan and that is administered by your trustee.  The bank can not violate the protection you get from this.  They could try and petition otherwise if you were to violate your Ch13 in some way shape or form, but if the you are paying the trustee on time and the trustee is doing there part, you would be fine.  

[sarge12]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You have to wait 4 years from the filing of your 7 before you can file a 13.  There is nothing you can do at the moment until that time.  We were in the same place, and had to file a 13 because of a failed business.  Luckily we were just a month past the 4 year mark from our personal 7.  I hope you are not assuming you can jump right in a file a 13 now.  You wont be able to until sometime in 2019.  

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This is not entirely accurate...you can file chapter 13, even immediately after a chapter 7 discharge. You can not recieve a chapter 13 discharge for 4 years. Sometimes people do file chapter 13 immediately after chapter 7 discharge...lawyers actually call this a chapter 20. No debts will be discharged in the chapter 13, so all the remaining debt must be paid through the chapter 13 restructuring. It is most commonly used to protect secured assets that the debtor is multiple payments behind on after chapter 7 discharge. The filing of the chapter 13 works the delinquincy into payments in the chapter 13 plan.

[sarge12]

I feel I should further explain filing ch 13 immediately following chapter 7 discharge. The chapter 7 discharges all unsecured debt, but you might be 4 or 5 payments behind on your house and car, that you wish to keep. You could then file chapter 13 to protect these assets from forclosure or repossesion, and work the amounts you are behind into the chapter 13 repayment plan. As long as you can complete the repayment within the 3-5 years of the chapter 13 to become current on these debts, the chapter 13 can allow you to keep assets that would not be possible through chapter 7 alone.