Chapter 13 Plan Preparation: What Gets Plans Confirmed

A Chapter 13 case really comes down to one moment: confirmation. A well-built plan sails through; a sloppy one draws trustee objections, amended plans, and continued hearings that eat your time and test your client's patience. Most of what separates the two is preparation — the unglamorous math and document work a good paralegal handles before the plan is ever filed.

Feasibility comes first

A plan has to be feasible: the debtor must actually be able to make the proposed payment every month for its full term. That starts with an honest budget — Schedules I and J built from real pay and real expenses — and a disposable-income figure (Form 122C-2) that holds up. If the payment is a dollar more than the client can sustain, the plan fails in practice even if it confirms on paper.

The math the trustee checks

• Commitment period: 3 years if below median income, 5 years if above — get this wrong and the plan is dead on arrival.
• Disposable income: all projected disposable income has to go to unsecured creditors over the commitment period.
• Best-interest (liquidation) test: unsecured creditors must receive at least what they'd get in a Chapter 7 liquidation.
• Priority claims: taxes and domestic-support obligations generally must be paid in full through the plan.
• Secured treatment: mortgage arrears cured over the plan, and 910-day vehicles handled at the right value and rate.

Where plans get kicked back

• A mortgage-arrears figure that's stale or missing a reinstatement/payoff quote
• A plan term too short for an above-median debtor
• Miscalculated disposable income, or an expense that won't survive scrutiny
• Priority tax or support claims underfunded
• A liquidation analysis that quietly fails the best-interest test
• Missing or late tax returns under § 1308

Clean prep means fewer amendments

Every one of those kickbacks becomes an amended plan, a trustee objection, or a continued confirmation hearing — more of your time on a fee that doesn't move. Getting the numbers, the arrears, and the tax posture right before filing is how you avoid the churn. That's precisely the work a bankruptcy-focused paralegal does every day.

The bottom line

We prepare Chapter 13 plans that come back to you confirmation-ready — feasibility math, disposable income, arrears, and trustee document package handled — so you review, sign, and file. Leave us a message and we'll show you how it fits your caseload.

Services are provided exclusively to licensed attorneys and law firms. We are not a bankruptcy petition preparer and do not provide legal advice or services to the public. This article is general information, not legal advice.