Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a payment plan arranged for you to make affordable payments for three to five years until the agreed upon amount of debt is paid off. Then, after you complete the payment plan, the remaining unsecured debt is discharged and your secured debt should be in good standing and paid up-to-date.

Sometimes unforeseeable events happen during a person’s Chapter 13 repayment plan. If something happens and you cannot afford to make your arranged monthly payments, you may be able to convert your case into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

If you’ve filed and received a discharge of debt under Chapter 7 in the past eight years, then you cannot convert your Chapter 13 into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. However, if you’ve never filed Chapter 7 then you can convert your Chapter 13 in a Chapter 7 any time. In order to convert, you’ll need to file a Notice of Conversion with the Akron or Cleveland bankruptcy court (where you filed initially) and pay the conversion fee. We’ll help you through the process.

Please note: you must take the Chapter 7 means test and qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in order to convert your case. If your situation changed and you cannot afford your Chapter 13 payments, then it’s likely you’ll qualify for Chapter 7.

A couple reasons to consider converting your bankruptcy case:

1. You decide to surrender your house or car and because Chapter 13 was aimed at saving these, you no longer need Chapter 13 benefits.
2. Your financial situation has changed making your Chapter 13 payments unmanageable.


After converting your case into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy from Chapter 13:
You’ll attend a meeting of creditors (341 hearing) and be assigned a new Chapter 7 bankruptcy Trustee. Our bankruptcy attorney will give you additional forms that you may need to fill out to complete your bankruptcy conversion.