Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Arkansas and New Mexico.
A court-supervised repayment plan of three to five years: one monthly payment to a trustee, missed mortgage or car payments caught up over time, and a discharge of the remaining qualifying debt at the end.
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Chapter 13 is for people with regular income who need time, structure, and court protection more than a quick discharge. You can generally keep your property, including a home or car you have fallen behind on, if the plan pays what the Bankruptcy Code requires over three to five years and you keep up the payments. Asa King files Chapter 13 cases in the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas and the District of New Mexico.
We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code. Attorney advertising. Contacting this office does not create an attorney–client relationship; representation begins only when a written agreement is signed.
Request a free consultation
Send your contact details and our office will reach out, usually within one business day, to arrange a time that works for you.
Please do not send confidential documents through this form. Requesting a consultation does not establish an attorney–client relationship or stop a deadline. If a deadline is approaching, call (870) 212-4700.
We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code. Attorney advertising. Contacting this office does not create an attorney–client relationship; representation begins only when a written agreement is signed.
Know the fee before you decide.
Chapter 7: $1,500 attorney fee for a standard consumer case, individual or joint, due before filing, plus the $338 court filing fee. Chapter 13: $3,500 attorney fee; $1,500 plus the $313 court fee before filing, and the $2,000 balance through the plan, subject to court approval. The attorney fee covers the two required courses. Every fee is confirmed in a written agreement; work outside the standard scope is billed separately.
Who files Chapter 13 instead of Chapter 7
- You are behind on a mortgage or car loan and want to keep the property. The missed payments are spread across the plan while you resume the regular payments.
- Your income is above the Chapter 7 means-test limits.
- You own property that Chapter 7 exemptions would not protect and want to keep it. The plan pays unsecured creditors at least what they would have received in a Chapter 7 case.
- You owe debts that Chapter 7 does not discharge, such as recent taxes or support arrears, and need a structured way to pay them under court protection.
- You received a Chapter 7 discharge in a case filed within the past eight years, so a new Chapter 7 discharge is not yet available.
- Someone co-signed for you. Chapter 13 extends protection to co-signers on consumer debts while the case is open; Chapter 7 does not.
Chapter 13 requires regular income sufficient to fund the plan, and it has debt limits that are adjusted periodically; consumer cases usually fall well within them. Whether Chapter 13 fits, and what the monthly payment would look like, is worked out at the consultation before you decide anything.
How the plan works
A proposed plan is filed with the petition. Within 30 days of filing you begin monthly payments to the Chapter 13 trustee, who distributes the money to creditors in the order the Bankruptcy Code sets. The court holds a confirmation hearing; the trustee and creditors may object; once the court confirms the plan, it binds you and your creditors.
The plan runs three years if your household income is below the state median and five years if it is above. A below-median plan can be extended up to five years when more time is needed to fund it.
The plan must pay the mortgage or car arrears you are catching up, priority debts such as recent taxes and support in full, the trustee’s percentage fee, and the court-allowed attorney fee. What unsecured creditors receive depends on your disposable income and the value of any property that exemptions would not protect; it varies from case to case. Whatever qualifying unsecured debt remains at the end of a completed plan is discharged.
Regular mortgage payments continue during the case, either directly to the lender or through the trustee, depending on the district’s practice. A car loan can sometimes be restructured in the plan, with the interest rate reduced and, for older loans, the balance lowered to the vehicle’s value.
Collection while the case is open
Filing bankruptcy generally creates an automatic stay that pauses many collection lawsuits, wage garnishments and collection efforts. Exceptions and repeat-filing rules apply; we review what protection is available in your situation.
In Chapter 13 a separate co-debtor stay also generally protects a person who co-signed a consumer debt with you, for as long as the case is open and the plan provides for that debt.
What it costs
The attorney fee for a standard consumer Chapter 13 case is $3,500, in Arkansas and New Mexico alike. $1,500 of the fee plus the $313 court filing fee are due before filing. The remaining $2,000 is paid through the plan: it is built into the monthly plan payment and paid to the attorney by the trustee, subject to the court’s allowance of the fee. The two required courses are arranged through an approved provider, and their fee is covered by the attorney fee.
Chapter 13 attorney fees are reviewed and allowed by the bankruptcy court. The written agreement states what the fee includes; work beyond the standard scope, such as an adversary proceeding, a contested motion, or a plan modification after confirmation, is quoted separately and, where the court requires it, submitted for approval before it is paid.
If a case is dismissed before the plan is completed, fees the court has allowed and the trustee has already paid through the plan are not refunded. What happens to amounts paid before filing is governed by the written agreement. See the full fee terms.
How a Chapter 13 case moves
- Consultation and decision. A free 30-minute call or video meeting with Asa. After the consultation you receive the written disclosures the Bankruptcy Code requires. If Chapter 13 fits and you decide to go forward, you also receive a written agreement that states the fee and what it covers.
- Course, documents, and budget. You complete a credit-counseling course from an approved provider within the 180 days before filing. Our office tells you which documents to provide and works through a realistic monthly budget with you, because the plan payment has to fit it.
- Petition, schedules, and plan. Asa prepares the petition, schedules, and plan and reviews them with you. The case is filed once you authorize it and the pre-filing payment is made.
- Plan payments begin. The first payment to the trustee is due within 30 days of filing, before the plan is confirmed.
- Meeting of creditors. About a month after filing, the trustee asks you questions under oath at a short meeting. Asa attends with you. The Arkansas and New Mexico bankruptcy courts currently hold most of these meetings by phone or video.
- Confirmation. The court considers the plan, any objections are resolved or decided, and the confirmed plan governs the rest of the case.
- Completion and discharge. Payments continue for three to five years. You complete a debtor-education course, and when the plan is finished the court enters the discharge.
If circumstances change
Plans are built for real life, and real life changes. A confirmed plan can be modified if income or expenses shift, a case can sometimes be converted to Chapter 7 if you become eligible, and a hardship discharge exists for limited situations. What matters is telling our office early, before a missed payment becomes a motion to dismiss.
Next step
Send your contact details through the form at the top of this page and our office will reach out, usually within one business day, to arrange a free 30-minute consultation with Asa by phone or video. If a foreclosure sale, repossession, or court date is close, call (870) 212-4700 instead of waiting for a callback.