Expert: Terry Leeders - 7/30/2008

Question
My husband and I filed bankruptcy in July 2005, chapter 13. I delivered my 2nd child in January 2006. Obviously, there are hospital bills, my insurance covered much of it, but I still have several thousand dollars that I am liable for. I have tried payment plans, however, I am unable to make the payments. We were barely able to file chapter 13 due to our debt to income ratio, however we were successful in filing but it leaves up with very little money each month, especially since I did not add my second child onto the bankruptcy. In essence, I am actually paying out more than I was in 2005 due to new child care, more food, clothing, etc.

The hospital where I delivered my daughter at has filed a civil lawsuit against me for the monies that I owe. I have 2 questions, a. can they do that while I am in chapter 13 and b. if so, can they collect. Because I have no "extra" money to spare. We are barely making it now, if I could afford to pay them, I would.

My court date is Aug. 28th, should I go or call my attorney and tell them about it?

I thank you in advance for your advice.

Answer
Unfortunately you cannot get those debts into the chapter 13.
You do have options though.  You can bring a motion to modify your plan to lower payments and perhaps stretch the case longer if your #s line up correctly.  You can use the fact that you have additional medical bills to take care of as a reason.  Your second option is to explore a conversion to Chapter7 whereby you can add on new debts incurred after the original filing.   Obviously, you need to make sure that the reason you needed chapter 13 in the first place has been resolved...ie: caught up on mortgage, income has changed etc. Speak to your lawyer to review your options.