What Happens if I Miss Chapter 13 Payments?
Good afternoon everybody, Edward Kelly here, Oklahoma bankruptcy attorney with video 4 in the series, How Can I Save My Home, with a Chapter 13. Today we’re going to talk about what happens if I have a problem while I’m making these payments in the Chapter 13.
So to summarize what we talked about, who can do this? You want to be behind on your mortgage, you have tried to work with the mortgage company, and third you have enough money to pay both the regular mortgage payment going forward and at least 1 60th, that’s five years, 60 months of what you’re behind. Again I use the easy example, if you’re behind 60,000 you’re gonna have to pay an extra 1,000 a month at a minimum to get caught up by the time the five years is over. Pretty easy math.
Then we talked about how late can you do it. You can go all the way up until you know the last gasp. Once the foreclosure has been filed, judgment’s been rendered, sheriff’s sale has been held, the house has been sold, as long as we catch it moments before, and I’ve done this, moments before the judge and the foreclosure confirms the sheriff’s sale, then everything stops, we back it up, and if you finish your plan successfully, you keep the house, foreclosure dismissed.
What Happens if My Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case is Dismissed?
In this video, the last question we’re really going to talk about, video five will be a summary, what happens if you fall behind on your payments in your chapter 13? Well not great, you can probably imagine. If you go so far as to miss enough plan payments that the trustee, that’s the government’s side of the chapter 13, files a motion to dismiss, and you weren’t able to catch it up or work it out, and your case is dismissed, everything goes right back to that moment that it was when you filed.
So like I talked about earlier, if we have stopped it just the moment before a sheriff’s sale has been confirmed, well that’s where you are again, and all that the bank has to do is get that sheriff’s sale confirmed. Of course, if it’s been years, that buyer may still not be available, and that may not be how it works. However, that’s the principle. It goes back in time to the state court.
However, lots of things you can do in a chapter 13. You can do motions to modify, you know you’re still going to have to make up that arrearage, but you can miss some payments, and then like if you have some trouble but you get a new job, then you can do a motion to modify and increase payments, make a lump sum payment, use tax refunds, put a payment at the end in the hopes you’re going to be doing better. Lots of things you can do to keep it going, but that’s how that works.
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And stay tuned in the last video, we’re going to summarize everything we talked about, and how can I save my house in a chapter 13 bankruptcy. As always, you can reach me, an OKC chapter 13 lawyer, at oklahomacitybankruptcyattorney.pro or call me at (405) 563-7888.