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Your Responsibilities After Your Chapter 13 Has Been Filed
The attorneys and staff at Clark and Washington work together as a team to offer you a quality Chapter 13 representation at a fair and reasonable cost. However, we cannot make your Chapter 13 a success without the help of a very important person - you!
As our Chapter 13 client, you must take an active role in the management of your Chapter 13 case. Here are some of the important tasks that only you can fulfill:
- fund your case - because Chapter 13 is a payment plan, it can only work if you make your regular Chapter 13 plan payment. If you are working at a regular job, we will set up an automatic payroll deduction to fund your plan. Your Chapter 13 trustee requires a payroll deduction in ever case and we have also discovered that payroll deduction cases work far better than “pay direct” cases. Until your payroll deduction kicks in, however, you must fund your plan directly. You will need to write a check or buy a money order and issue it to “Chapter 13 Trustee.” Make sure to include your name and case number. Call our office if you have questions about this very important responsibility.
- pay your regular mortgage payment (if applicable in your case). If you have a mortgage payment, you must continue to send a payment to your mortgage lender every month. Your Chapter 13 plan only includes past due mortgage payments. Your regular on-going mortgage payment must be paid directly.
- keep our office advised if you move, get a new home telephone or cell phone, or e-mail address. As long as your case is active, we need to stay in touch. If we can’ t find you, we can’t help you.
- attend all scheduled hearings and arrive early. As a Chapter 13 debtor you are required to attend your “meeting of creditors” (also called a Section 341 hearing). You must attend and bring with you two forms of ID - a picture ID and proof of your Social Security number. You may or may not need to attend other hearings - always check with us if you are not sure. Please make every effort to arrive at least 30 to 45 minutes early - your day will be much less stressful, you won’t miss your hearing and you may have an opportunity to watch similar hearings before you are called.
As always we appreciate the opportunity to be of service to you and we look forward to working with you in your Chapter 13 case.
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