Houston Texas Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Houston Texas Chapter 13 bankruptcy is the bankruptcy for those who desire to save a car or a house and cannot get current under the terms of the original contract. Others who file for chapter 13 do so because some their property is non-exempt or their income is high enough to trigger a claim of abuse from the trustee or their creditors.
Do you live within Harris, Austin, Brazos, Colorado, Fayette, Fort Bend, Grimes, Harris, Madison, Montgomery, San Jacinto, Walker, Waller, Wharton, Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, or Matagorda County within the state of Texas? Or the towns of Baytown, Bellaire, Bunker Hill, Deer Park, Friendswood, Galena Park, Humble, Jacinto City, Katy, La Porte, Pasadena, Tomball, West University, Cypress, Crosby, Woodlands, Denver Harbor, Spring & Alief
The Law Firm of Busby & Associates’ P.C. , can provide the representation you need if you are considering filing a chapter 13 bankruptcy. Most cases are filed electronically and everyone has to appear at 515 Rusk Houston Texas for Court.
For those individuals and small business who have missed mortgage, vehicle payments, or a lawsuit has been filed against them, a Houston Texas Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows them to cure, or make up, missing payments. The payment is made through a “wage earner plan” and can run 3 to 5 years. Chapter 13 is also for those who are presumed to be abusing the bankruptcy process under Chapter 7 due to the means test analysis showing a positive income of over $166 per month. During this time, the creditor is NOT allowed to harass the individual or attempt to seize the asset unless the creditor seeks relief from the bankruptcy court. The secured creditor has the right to lift the stay if you are not carrying insurance on the collateral or you have not made your bankruptcy payments.
Eric Southward has filed over 10,000 bankruptcies in the last 14 years for both small business and consumers. The following outlines the process involved, including Chapter 13 bankruptcy requirements for filing with the court:
1. Credit counseling before file Chapter 13 bankruptcy
Before you file bankruptcy you must attend a briefing with an approved non-profit entity which will conduct a budget analysis with you. The cost for said counseling average $50.
2. File Petition, Schedules A-J, Statement of Financial Affairs, Means Test Analysis, and Plan with the Court
Prior to case being filed I will need a comprehensive list of your assets and liabilities. You will need to provide bank statements, pay advices, and tax returns. Some of this information is required to be filed with the court and some must go to your trustee. You have two trustees within the Houston Division of the Southern District, David Peake and William Heikamp. Both are similar but with small management and/or legal differences of opinion. Contact information for the court and the trustees are listed below
Once the case has been electronically filed, an injunction goes into effect staying your creditors from taking any further action to collect or recover on any debt you owe without first getting permission from the bankruptcy court. Notice must be given to your creditors, which my firm will do for you. This injunction is called the “automatic stay”. Violations of the automatic stay can be severe. Most of your larger debt collections agencies and mortgage companies will not attempt collection without getting permission from the bankruptcy court. Although some smaller companies who do not have much experience with the power of the bankruptcy judge will attempt collection. Our firm prosecutes violations of the automatic stay through a separate lawsuit called an “Adversary”.
You have 5 Judges in the Southern District of Texas. Our firm frequently appears in bankruptcy court in front of the all of the judges weekly. The judges, like the trustees, have different management styles and some differences of opinion as to the interruption of the law. The differences are slight but could be costly depending on your facts.
Your monthly proposed plan payments are first due 30 days after your case is filed and then continue for the duration of your plan. If you miss any payments required prior to your Plan being confirmed by the court, your case will be dismissed and you will lose the protection of the bankruptcy Stay
3. Your “PLAN” – Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
In Chapter 13, along with all your other papers, you file a “Plan” of repayment to some of your creditors. The plan payment is determined by the assets you own, the types of debts you have, and your income. Some of the terms used to determine your payments are outlined below:
A. You are paying ALL of your current monthly income into the plan for a minimum of 36 months, and a maximum of 60 months depending on the facts of your case and your household income. Disposable income is defined as your net income (gross income minus tax withholding) minus your reasonable and necessary living expenses.
B. Certain creditors must be paid 100% through your Plan, so you must have sufficient disposable income to be able to do this in the required time frame. Examples of creditors needing to be paid 100% are: Mortgage and vehicle arrearages, taxes less than 3 years old, past due child support or alimony and others.
C. Your unsecured creditors will receive a percentage on the dollar. The percentage will be determined by how must money is left over after you pay certain bills
4. Section 341 Meeting of Creditors
This occurs within the first 45 days of the case. It is often referred to as the section “341(a) Meeting.” The Trustee will review your bankruptcy papers and the information contained therein. The trustee wants to make sure you understand the process and are aware of your duties and responsibilities. In Houston, Texas the trustee will usually recommend confirmation of your plan at this meeting if your paperwork is in proper order. If so, then you may not have to come back to court for the confirmation hearing. Attendance of creditors at this meeting is infrequent and the meeting is quick if you paperwork is in good order. The location is 515 Rusk 3rd floor of the federal courthouse buildings
The Trustee’s role in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case is at first to make sure that you are filing your case in “good faith” and that your monthly plan payment is as high as possible, so as to maximize the benefit to your creditors. Once your Plan is confirmed by the court, however, the Trustee generally wants to see you succeed because that’s how the Trustee and creditors get paid.
5. Objections and Claims Litigation
Your creditors are able to object to your plan on the grounds set forth above, as well as others (if they can show it wasn’t proposed in good faith, the amounts are insufficient, etc.). Creditors are required to file “proofs of claim” with the court in order to be paid from your Plan. As you might imagine, these claims may be for higher amounts than you put in your bankruptcy papers. This can often cause your proposed plan to become infeasible and necessitates that your attorney object to these claims (assuming grounds exist for doing so).
Also, creditor may file a claim that is time barred in state court. This debt is often referred to as “Zombie Debt,”. The creditor is required to attach something to the claim indicating indebtedness and when was the last charge or payment on the account. Should this not be done then this is grounds to object to the claim and have the claim disallowed. Texas has a four year statute of limitations on breach of contract. If the last charge or payment was more than 4 years prior to the filing of the bankruptcy, this claim may be denied. At the same time the creditors are required to file their claims within 90 days of the creditor’s meeting and late claims can be denied as well. It is not wise to attempt to have a mortgage or a vehicle claim denied on being late as the lien still survives the bankruptcy. But with unsecured debts, having late claims denied can result in you paying a higher percentage to your other creditors while still discharging the late claims. This can also result in getting out of bankruptcy quicker as your total gross plan payments have been reduced by the disallowance of late or time barred claims.
6. Plan Confirmation Hearing and Plan Payments
Several weeks after your creditors meeting, the court will hold a hearing on confirmation of your Plan. This is a graduating event which you want to occur as soon as possible. The trustee starts to make disbursements to your creditors after the order of confirmation is signed. Attendance is not necessary if the trustee is recommending that your plan be approved.
7. Modification or Conversion
Modification to confirmed plans is common place. If you fail pay tax debt that is incurred after the filing or lose your job while you are in bankruptcy them it is possible to revisit your confirmed plan and attempt a second bite at the apple. You generally must have a good reason for failing behind and a solid plan to catch up. If you are unable to catch up, you may consider converting the case to chapter 7. It would be as if you filed a chapter 7 case in the first place. You will need to provide an updated budget and will have to attend a new 341 meeting of creditors with your chapter 7 trustee. If you cannot get current then this is sometimes your best option but you will likely lose the property you were attempting to cure in the chapter 13 bankruptcy.
8. Discharge
The entry of the discharge order requires a 2nd class and a motion. Mr. Peake teaches this class and there is no charge to attend his course if he is your trustee. You will need to review and sign the motion for entry of discharge. Once the discharge is entered you should be current on your mortgage and have paid your vehicle in full. The legal effect of the discharge is that a creditor cannot file suit in a court to attempt to force you to pay. While the IRS and other creditors would not be able to execute on the debt or judgment if the debt or judgment was perfected prior to the commencement of the bankruptcy. The term “discharge,” does not extinguish the debt or obligation. It discharges the creditor’s ability to legally collect the debt or obligation. The next step is to update your credit report by following our post discharge section.
9. Updating Your Credit Report
Your credit report should show your discharged debt with a ZERO balance. If it does not say this, then go to the all of the bureau’s websites to “DISPUTE,” the balanced showed. Just click on the creditor you are disputing and it will being up a box of reasons why you are disputing that debt. All you need to do is click the reason “Was included in my bankruptcy filing.” It’s that easy.
In about 45 days, the agency will update your report showing the debts being reported correctly. Do not delay in updating your credit file.
IMPORTANT: Make sure that your Credit Report is UPDATED and CORRECTED PRIOR to getting any type of financing. Especially if you are buying a house or car!
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Your credit score (FICO) and how high you can get it after bankruptcy are important. We recommend that you download FICO’s 17-page booklet called Understanding Credit Reports and Scores. You can find it on FICO’s web site at www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/.
Bankruptcy Resources for Houston Texas Chapter 13 bankruptcy are listed below:
| William E. Heitkamp, Chapter 13 Trustee |
9821 Katy Freeway,Suite590
Houston,TX 77024
(713) 722-1200 Phone
(713) 722-1211 Facsimile
Website Access for Debtor B/K Case www.13datacenter.com
Trustee Payment Address:
(PUT CASE #)
Do send certified funds- money orders or cashier’s checks
Do not send cash or personal checks.
William E. Heitkamp, Chapter 13 Trustee
P.O. Box 740
Memphis,Tennessee 38101-0740
Support staff that assist at 341 is:
DebtorDepartment 341 Desk
Barbara [email protected] Ext.3421
On Going Mortgage/WAGE Order/ACH Department:
Michael (Dept Supervisor) michael_h @ ch13hou.com Ext.3428
Michelle michelle_d @ ch13hou.com Ext .3438
Shirlie shirlie_w @ ch13hou.com Ext.3439
Jadie jadie_g @ ch13hou.com Ext.3417
Wage Orders
Barbara [email protected] Ext.3431
ACH/EFT
Mary [email protected] Mary [email protected] Ext.3421
Technical Support:
Angelique [email protected] Ext.3435
Southern District (ECF Help Desk)
1-866-358-6201
H-3 Judge Paul Courtroom 401
341 Meeting of Creditors held every Wednesdays of the month (3rd floor suite 3401).
Confirmation Hearing is held every Thursday of the month.
Dismissal Hearing is held every Thursday of the month.
The deadline to Modify in a dismissal hearing is a day prior of the dismissal hearing.
Pre-Confirmations
Judge Paul (H-3)
Dawn H. (Dept Supervisor) [email protected] Ext..3422
Karen [email protected] Ext. 3458
Casey [email protected] Ext. 3425
Stacey [email protected] Ext.3426
Rosie [email protected] Ext.3423
rspport: Post-Confirmation Motion to Dismiss
Judge Paul (H-3)
Janet [email protected] Ext.3437
Modifications
Judge Paul (H-3)
April [email protected] Ext.3451
————————————————
H-5 Judge Brown Courtroom 403
341 Meeting of Creditors held every Wednesdays of the month (3rd floor suite 3401).
Confirmation Hearing is held every 3rd week of the month (Tuesday).
Dismissal Hearing is held every 2nd week of the month (Tuesday).
The deadline to Modify in a dismissal hearing is a day prior of the dismissal hearing.
Pre-Confirmations
Judge Brown (H-5)
| Dee (Dept Supervisor) [email protected] Ext.3430 |
Jillian [email protected] Ext.3429
Loretta [email protected] Ext.3432
Leticia [email protected] Ext.3427
David [email protected] Ext.3450
rspport: Post-Confirmation Motion to Dismiss
Judge Brown (H-5)
Missie [email protected] Ext.3444
Modifications
Judge Brown (H-5)
Maria [email protected]-Ext.3446
H-2 Judge Jones Courtroom 400
341 Meeting of Creditors held every Wednesdays of the month (3rd floor suite 3401.
Confirmation Hearing is held every3rd week of month (Thursday).
Dismissal Hearing is held every 1st week of month (Thursday).
The deadline to Modify in a dismissal hearing is prior to the dismissal hearing with the exception of debtors that have not made any payments for 3 months straight. If no payment is made has been made, in the past 3 months or debtor has made an attempt to make any kind of payment the case will be dismissed.
Pre-Confrimations
Judge Jones Docket Supervisor L CHECKS(H1 & H2)
Viviene McBayne[email protected] 128 (A-F)
H1 Case Analyst
Julie Sosa JSosaPeakech13trustee.com 116 (G-L)
[email protected] -104
Wage Orders (H1 & H4)
Karyn Osborne [email protected] -146
H-1 Judge Isgur Courtroom 404
341 Meeting of Creditors held every Friday of the month (3rd floorsuite 3401).
Confirmation Hearing is held every 3rd week of month (Tuesday).
Dismissal Hearing is held every 2nd week of month (Wednesday).
The deadline to Modify in a dismissal hearing is prior to the dismissal hearing with the exception of debtors that have not made any payments for 3 months straight. If no payment is made has been made, in the past 3 months or debtor has made an attempt to make any kind of payment the case will be dismissed.
On Going Mortgage/ ACH Department:
Judge Isgur Cases
Labresha Haskins [email protected] -153
Danny Lei [email protected] -129
Pre-Confrimations
Judge Isgur Docket Supervisor L CHECKS(H-1)
Viviene McBayne[email protected] 128 (A-F)
H1 Case Analyst
Julie Sosa JSosaPeakech13trustee.com 116 (G-L)
Theresa McKinney [email protected] 131 (M-R)
Stacey Bauer [email protected] 105 (S-Z)
Debtor Counselor Supervisor (H1 Modification/Post Conf. Dismissal)
Leticia Chavez[email protected] -124
Debtor Counselor Supervisor (H-4
Post-Confrimation Motion to Dismiss
Judge Bohn-H4
Barbara Stewart [email protected] -151
Staff Attorneys:
Judge Bohm Cases
Richard Aurich [email protected] -156
H-2 Judge Jones Courtroom 400
341 Meeting of Creditors held every Friday of the month (3rd floorsuite 3401).
Confirmation Hearing is held every 3rd week of month (Thursday).
Dismissal Hearing is held every 1st week of month (Thursday).
The deadline to Modify in a dismissal hearing is prior to the dismissal hearing with the exception of debtors that have not made any payments for 3 months straight. If no payment is made has been made, in the past 3 months or debtor has made an attempt to make any kind of payment the case will be dismissed.
On Going Mortgage/ ACH Department:
Judge Jones Cases
Labresha Haskins [email protected] -153
Danny Lei [email protected] -129
Pre-Confrimations
Judge Jones Docket Supervisor L CHECKS(H-2)
Viviene McBayne[email protected] 128 (A-F)
H1 Case Analyst
Julie Sosa JSosaPeakech13trustee.com 116 (G-L)
Theresa McKinney [email protected] 131 (M-R)
Stacey Bauer [email protected] 105 (S-Z)Theresa McKinney [email protected] 131 (M-R)
Stacey Bauer [email protected] 105 (S-Z)
Post-Confrimation Motion to Dismiss
Judge Jones(H-2)
Marcus Teel [email protected] -141
Modifications
Judge Jones(H-2)
Casey [email protected] Ext.3425
David G. Peake, Chapter 13 Trustee
9660 Hillcroft,Suite 430
Houston,TX 77096
(713) 283-5400 Phone
(713) 852-9084/85 Facsimile
(888) 283-2459 Toll Free Number
Website Access for Debtor B/K Case www.13datacenter.com
Trustee Payment Address:
(PUT CASE #)
Do send certified funds- money orders or cashier’s checks
Do not send cash or personal checks.
David G. Peake, Chapter 13 Trustee
P.O. Box2158
Memphis,Tennessee38101-2158
Support staff that assist at 341 Meeting of Creditors is:
Administrative Department:
Operations Manager
Denise Bostic [email protected] -109
DebtorDepartment 341 Desk
Sara Contreras [email protected] -115
Cecilia Martin [email protected]– 103
Sue Pitts
Post-Confrimation Motion to Dismiss
Judge Isgur-H1
Marcus Teel [email protected] -141
Staff Attorneys:
Judge Isgur Cases
Dinorah Gonzalez [email protected] -139
H-4 Judge Bohm Courtroom 600
341 Meeting of Creditors held every Friday of the month (3rd floorsuite 3401).
Confirmation Hearing is held every 3rd week of month (Monday).
Dismissal Hearing is held every 2nd week of month (Monday).
The deadline to Modify in a dismissal hearing is a day prior of the dismissal hearing.
On Going Mortgage/ ACH Department:
Judge Bohm Cases
LorraineHernandez [email protected] -143
Ashley Tu [email protected] -140
Pre-Confrimations
Judge Bohm Docket Supervisor (H4)
Rita Sanchez [email protected]-112
H4 Case Analyst
Gladys Saucedo [email protected] -158
Marie Le [email protected] -108
Modification/Post Conf. Dismissal)
Joel Pena [email protected] -130
Post-Confrimation Motion to Dismiss
Judge Jones(H-2)
Marcus Teel [email protected] -141
Debtor Counselor Supervisor (H-2 Modification/Post Conf. Dismissal)
Leticia Chavez[email protected] -124
Staff Attorneys:
Judge Jones Cases
Dinorah Gonzalez [email protected] -139
Our toll-free telephone number is at 1-866-912-9832. You need to learn about all of your options including information about credit, debt, bill consolidation services and federal bankruptcy law. Please call us at 1-866-912-9832 so that we can discuss your case. You can also visit our web site: www.busby-lee.com. Our attorney fees are reasonable, competitive, and court- approved. It is important that you call us soon. Our office is conveniently located near the Galleria and Highway 59 on Hillcroft between Richmond and Westheimer. Call us toll-free at 1-866-912-9832 for directions to our office.
We provide bankruptcy services in the greater Houston metro area including the cities of Katy, Sugarland, Pearland, Friendswood, Clear Lake, Bellaire, Bunker Hill, Deer Park, Denver Harbor, Galena Park, Cypress, Jacinto City, Jersey City, La Porte, Missouri City, Pearland, Sea Brook, Stafford, Alief and Galveston. We also handle cases from The Woodlands, Spring and Tomball and cases in Baytown and Channelview.
We handle bankruptcy cases in all of these counties: Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Matagorda, Austin, Brazos, Colorado, Fayette, Fort Bend, Grimes, Harris, Madison, Montgomery, San Jacinto, Walker, Waller, Wharton
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