New Albany Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Lawyers

If you’re behind on your mortgage, staring down a wage garnishment, or trying to keep a car from being repossessed, a Chapter 13 repayment plan lets you catch up on debt over three to five years while keeping the property you can’t afford to lose.

Our New Albany Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyers at CLLB Law have walked Floyd County residents through this exact process for years, and we know the local courtroom, the local trustee’s office, and the paperwork that trips people up.

If you’re in New Albany, Indiana and weighing your options, call us at (812) 725-8226 for a schedule a confidential consultation. We’ll tell you plainly whether Chapter 13 fits your situation.

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What Makes Chapter 13 Different from Chapter 7?

Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Indiana lets you keep your house, car, and other property while you pay down debt on a court-approved schedule. By contrast, Chapter 7 typically involves selling off non-exempt assets to satisfy creditors.

Most people choose Chapter 13 because they own a home with equity, they’ve fallen behind on payments but still have steady income, or they simply don’t qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy under the income test.

How the Repayment Plan Works

Once the court approves your plan, you’ll make one monthly payment to a trustee, who then distributes funds to your creditors according to the plan’s terms.

Missed mortgage payments get folded into the plan and paid off over time, so you can stop a foreclosure in its tracks. A second car loan or a tax debt can often get restructured, too, sometimes at a lower interest rate than your original agreement.

Who Qualifies for Chapter 13?

Not everyone qualifies for Chapter 13. The law caps how much secured and unsecured debt you can carry and still use this chapter, so an unusually large mortgage balance or credit card debt may call for a different approach.

We check your numbers against these limits before you file, so you know from the outset whether Chapter 13 is on the table.

Debts Commonly Included in a Chapter 13 Plan

Here’s what a Chapter 13 plan typically covers:

• Past-due mortgage or car payments, spread out so you can catch up gradually.
• Certain tax debts, which may be reduced or reorganized depending on the type and age of the debt.
• Unsecured debt like credit cards, often paid back at a percentage of what’s owed.
• Ongoing creditor collection calls and letters, which stop almost immediately once you file.

How Long Does a Chapter 13 Plan Last?

A Chapter 13 plan lasts either three or five years, depending on your income compared to Indiana’s median income for a household your size. If your income falls below the state median, you’ll typically qualify for a three-year plan. If it’s above, the court usually requires a five-year commitment.

How Plan Length Affects Your Payments

The length of your plan affects more than just how long you’ll be making payments. It also shapes how much you’ll ultimately pay toward unsecured debt like credit cards or medical bills, since your disposable income gets calculated over that entire period.

A knowledgeable attorney can run these numbers with you before you file, so you walk into your case with a realistic idea of what your monthly payment and total plan length will look like, rather than finding out after the fact.

What Happens If Your Financial Situation Changes?

Life doesn’t always cooperate with a repayment schedule set years in advance. If you lose a job or take on a medical setback partway through your case, your plan isn’t necessarily locked in place. Your payment can sometimes be adjusted, or in some situations, converted to a different chapter.

Why Prompt Communication Matters

Staying in touch with your attorney the moment your finances shift gives you options that aren’t there once you’ve already missed several payments.

What Happens to My House and Car During Chapter 13?

Filing Chapter 13 puts an automatic stay in place the moment your case is filed. This immediately stops foreclosure sales, repossessions, and most collection actions. That breathing room is often the single biggest reason people choose this chapter over letting a foreclosure or repossession run its course.

Catching Up on Mortgage and Car Loan Payments

From there, your attorney works with you to fold any past-due mortgage or car payments into your repayment plan, while you continue making your regular ongoing payments outside the plan.

As long as you stay current on both, you keep the property. This is different from simply asking a lender for a temporary pause, since the plan is legally binding and enforced by the bankruptcy court, not left to a lender’s discretion. Our New Albany bankruptcy lawyers can walk you through exactly how this works for your case.

Addressing a Second Mortgage

Homeowners carrying a second mortgage on a property now worth less than what’s owed sometimes have another option. Depending on your home’s value compared to the first mortgage balance, it may be possible to reclassify a wholly unsecured second lien as general unsecured debt, paid back at a fraction of its balance instead of in full.

This approach depends heavily on current appraisals, so it’s worth a close look at your specific numbers before assuming it applies.

Building a Repayment Plan That Fits Your Situation

Floyd County has its share of families dealing with a job loss, a medical setback, or a divorce that threw the household budget out of balance. A skilled Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney in New Albany, Indiana can look at your specific mortgage arrearage and car loan balance and map out exactly how those debts fit into a workable monthly plan.

What Debts Can’t Be Discharged in Chapter 13?

Certain debts can’t be discharged in a Chapter 13 case no matter how well the plan is structured. These include:

• Most student loans
• Recent tax debt
• Child support
• Criminal restitution

Knowing this upfront matters, because it shapes what your plan needs to prioritize and what obligations will still be waiting for you after your case closes.

That said, Chapter 13 still offers real relief for the debts it does cover. Credit card balances, medical bills, personal loans, and many older tax debts can be substantially reduced or restructured.

A focused review of your full financial picture, before you file, tells you which debts will disappear, which will shrink, and which will simply get spread out over your plan.

Tax debt in particular tends to confuse people, since not all of it gets treated the same way. Older income tax debt meeting specific age and filing requirements can sometimes be paid back at a reduced rate, while more recent tax debt usually has to be paid in full through the plan.

Sorting out which category your tax debt falls into early keeps your plan accurate.

Why Do You Need an Attorney to File Chapter 13?

You need an attorney to file Chapter 13 because the case involves detailed financial disclosures, strict local rules, and a repayment plan that has to satisfy both a trustee and a judge before it takes effect, and a single error on any of these can cost you the protection you’re counting on.

Filing on your own means learning bankruptcy procedure from scratch while a foreclosure date or a garnishment order may already be in motion.

What The Paperwork Actually Involves

Your case starts with schedules listing every asset, debt, source of income, and monthly expense you have, plus a proposed plan showing exactly how much each creditor will receive and over what timeframe.

These documents have to line up with each other and with your pay records, and any mismatch can prompt questions from the trustee or delay your confirmation hearing.

Where Cases Run into Trouble

A Chapter 13 case rarely runs on autopilot from start to finish. Common sticking points include:

• A creditor disputing the amount owed on a mortgage or car loan.
• A trustee questioning whether your budget leaves enough for unsecured creditors.
• Missed plan payments that put your case at risk of dismissal.
• Property or exemption issues that affect what you’re allowed to keep.

Handling any of these without someone who has argued them in front of the same court before puts your case, and your home or vehicle, at unnecessary risk.

Why Our Firm

Our attorneys bring more than 50 years of combined experience resolving legal problems for people across Floyd County and the surrounding area, and Chapter 13 cases make up a regular part of that work. We’ve built plans that survived creditor objections, kept families in their homes, and closed out successfully once the final payment was made.

Members of our team have also been recognized with Super Lawyers Rising Star honors and Business First’s Forty Under Forty list. These credentials reflect years of hands-on courtroom work, not just a title on a website.

What Our Clients Say

Clients who’ve worked with our firm consistently mention feeling heard rather than processed like a file number.

One client, Shea, told us: “Was EXTREMELY happy with my service. Everyone there is super welcoming. I really felt like they were invested in my case and I wasn’t just a dollar sign to them. I would recommend their services to anyone looking for help.”

Another client, Yvonne, shared a similar experience after working with multiple departments at our firm: “I’m very grateful for the support and expertise of all at the Firm. I’ve had to use almost all services in the office to support my Father and his late wife. A solution for all our needs as a family, with care and discretion. Thank you to each one, on behalf of my family.”

Trusted advice, experienced advocacy, and successful results are the standard our firm has held itself to for decades, and we bring that same standard to every Chapter 13 case we handle.

Talk To Us Before You File

Filing without guidance means finding out what went wrong only after it’s already happened. Call CLLB Law at (812) 725-8226 to schedule a schedule a confidential consultation, and let us look at your numbers before you take the next step.

What Should You Bring to Your First Meeting?

Bringing your recent pay stubs, tax returns, a list of your debts, and a rough monthly budget to your first meeting lets us give you a realistic read on your case right away, rather than a generic overview.

The more complete a financial picture you can hand us, the faster we can tell you whether a three-year or five-year plan fits your income, and what your monthly payment is likely to look like.

If you’re missing documents or aren’t sure what counts as relevant, that’s fine. Part of preparing your case involves helping you track down pay records, mortgage statements, and creditor letters you might not have organized yet.

Our New Albany, Indiana Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorneys have handled dozens of these filings, so we know exactly which documents the trustee’s office will ask for and can help you gather them before they become a bottleneck.

Federal law also requires a credit counseling course before you file and a second course, on financial management, before your case can be discharged. Both are typically short and available online or by phone through an approved provider, and we’ll point you toward providers we know satisfy the court’s requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions About Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in IN

Talk to a New Albany Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Lawyer Today

Debt problems don’t usually resolve themselves just by waiting them out, and a foreclosure sale or repossession date won’t pause itself while you decide what to do.

If you’re searching for New Albany Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyers who will look at your specific numbers and give you a straight answer, our team at CLLB Law is ready to sit down with you and talk through what Chapter 13 could mean for your household.

Call (812) 725-8226 now to schedule a schedule a confidential consultation and find out what your options actually look like.

CLLB Law 318 Pearl St #200, New Albany, IN 47150

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Attorney Steve Langdon

Licensed to practice in both Indiana and Kentucky, Steve Langdon is an experienced elder law and trial attorney. In addition to his litigation and trial work, Steve’s practice includes wills, trusts, probate, Medicaid planning, guardianship, powers of attorney, and advanced directive planning, including living wills and health care surrogate designations. [Attorney Bio]

Attorney Gary Banet

Gary is licensed to practice law in both Indiana and Kentucky. He concentrates his practice in estate planning, estate and trust administration, estate and trust litigation, guardianships, elder law and special-needs planning. Gary earned his J.D. from the University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, and formerly practiced law at Bingham Greenebaum Doll and Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs. [Attorney Bio]