What Happens When My Chapter 13 Case Finishes?
Congratulations on your finished Chapter 13 Case. When your Chapter 13 case finishes at the end, the Trustee will inform your attorney of the plan’s completion. In order for your Chapter 13 to finish, you will need to make all payments required to reach the total amount due on the plan. The total amount due on the plan must be paid in entirety or the completion of the case will not be reached.
Also, remember that you need to complete the 2nd required bankruptcy class! If you forgot to take it earlier during your plan, it is time to take it right away! Use the provider offered by your attorney and make sure the certificate gets filed with the court.
Your attorney will have you sign an affidavit after the notice of the plan completion is filed with the court. This will allow your attorney to motion to the court for you to receive your Chapter 13 discharge. You will no longer be required to make any more payments for the plan and your case will be complete!
Car Titles and Mortgage Payments
After you receive your plan completion and discharge, you will receive the title for any car that you paid off through your Chapter 13 plan. If the title is not automatically mailed to you, make sure to contact your creditor.
In addition, if you were paying your monthly mortgage payment through the Chapter 13 plan, you will need to make arrangements to switch to paying your mortgage payment directly to the mortgage company. Generally, you will just pay your mortgage company directly the month after your Chapter 13 plan payments stop. If there is any variation on this, you can work out the details to make something work that will allow direct payments to resume.
Some Cases Will Not Receive a Discharge at the End
Cases that were tagged as a “no discharge” case do not receive a discharge at the end of Chapter 13. This is rare and usually only happens when someone files Chapter 13 too close to when they filed a previous Chapter 7 (less than 4 years between the two). Both the court and our office notify such a debtor early in the process if they are not going to receive a discharge at the end of their case. Such debtors may need to work out more details with car creditors to settle out a remaining balance to get their titles from the creditor. They also may still owe on some other credit balances if they did not pay all of their creditors back.
