{"id":938,"date":"2012-11-26T16:15:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T21:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/?p=938"},"modified":"2012-11-26T16:15:14","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T21:15:14","slug":"chapter-13-bankruptcy-can-i-pay-one-debt-better-than-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/?p=938","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: Can I Pay One Debt Better Than Others?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nEveryone with debts has at least one bill they’d like to pay, even if they can’t pay them all.\u00a0 So if you are already filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy and repaying some debt, why not treat some better than others?<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes that is allowed and sometimes not.\u00a0 It’s a complicated issue because, at the heart of the Chapter 13 plan, there is a pool of money \u2014 the payments you make \u2014 which has to be divided among creditors.\u00a0 If one is paid more, others get less typically.\u00a0 So favoring one means discriminating against others.<\/p>\n

The law requires some discrimination.\u00a0 For example if you aren’t paying everyone in full, then you typically have to provide for special “priority” claims<\/a> to be paid in full.\u00a0 These are things the government has a special interest in \u2014 paying the trustee<\/a>, child support, recent taxes and so on.<\/p>\n

In other cases, like your home and car, the law often allows payment of these “secured” debts in preferential ways over your other debt because you need those assets to keep going (and putting the money into the pot each month!).<\/p>\n

But what if the debt is one you can’t wipe out at the end of the typical case, like student loans<\/a>?\u00a0 Can you pay those in full and “short change” the other debts you can wipe out?\u00a0 Sadly, there are only limited ways to do that because it gives you a “head start” not a “fresh start” at the end of your case, according to some.<\/p>\n

In October, 2012, a couple argued they should be able to pay non-priority taxes they could not wipe out in full not because it would help them out\u2026but because the tax authorities had done nothing wrong and deserved to be paid.\u00a0\u00a0 (Did you hear the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil”<\/a> when you read that?\u00a0 Maybe it was just me.)\u00a0 The 8th Circuit’s bankruptcy appellate panel did not buy that argument either.\u00a0 See, In re Copeland<\/em>, #12-064<\/a> (8th.BAP 11\/12\/12).<\/p>\n

So arguing that your sister’s loan to you deserves special treatment because she’s been good to you probably won’t fly either.\u00a0 But all is not lost.\u00a0 If paying the debt with special treatment is necessary to keep your case afloat or otherwise earning income, then it might be better received by the court.\u00a0 So some judges have allowed restitution and some business-related debts to be paid preferentially, recognizing that going to jail or having to close your business down is counterproductive to getting anyone paid well.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Bankruptcy Law Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone with debts has at least one bill they’d like to pay, even if they can’t pay them all.\u00a0 So if you are already filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy and repaying some debt, why not treat some better than others? Sometimes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":940,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}