Chapter 13 and Child Support

Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing will not discharge your obligation to pay child support, but it may help you get caught up on your payments. If you are behind on making your payments, you do need to keep in mind that you will still have to pay your child support while you are going through your Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Read on to learn more.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Won’t Get Rid of Child Support Debt

Congress decided that child support cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. In Chapter 13, your child support debt is treated as a priority. You must pay any outstanding child support payments, in full, as part of your Chapter 13 bankruptcy payment plan.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Will Let You Catch Up

One of the biggest benefits of going through Chapter 13 bankruptcy is that you will be able to organize your debt while paying back some or all of the debt through a payment plan. In many cases, paying child support may actually reduce the amount that you would otherwise be paying to unsecured creditors. Since many debtors would rather help their children than paying credit cards, going through Chapter 13 bankruptcy can help you get caught up on back child support and reduce the amount owed on other debts.

You Have to Make Payments as They Are Due

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can help you get caught up on past due child support payments. It also means that you will still have to keep making regular payments during child support periods as they become due.

You Have to Be on Current Child Support Payments for a Discharge

Before you can complete a Chapter 13 discharge, you must first show that you are caught up on all of your domestic support payments such as child support. Because of this, if you missed any payments during your case, you will have to pay them off prior to getting your discharge.

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