We filed a Chapter 13 on December 30. Our 341 hearing is on February 13. Last week, however, two things happened: my employer offered a severance package of 30 weeks pay plus my annual bonus, which would be a lump sum payment of about $78,000. It’s likely I would be laid off with nothing in a few months if I don’t take it. However, at the same time, a competitor offered me a consultancy gig for several months at $1000 a day. Way more than I currently make, but short term.
So, the numbers: I currently make 114k plus bonus. My husband is completely disabled and has only SSI. Our unsecured debt is $120k, which just spiraled out of control when he went blind 5 years ago and lost his mobility and I scrambled to get care, equipment, retrofit our house, and do a little self-care I the form of some mindless purchasing of things I probably didn’t need. I just crumbled for a while and missed several house payments and everything just piled up. We have one car, leased, which I’m current on.
I called my attorney and told her about the buyout and she said she would look into how we should handle it. She’d already told me the court would take my bonus, but if I didn’t have a job, that might change the equation. Otherwise they’d take all of the severance package, which seems insane. The plan has us paying $2000 a month to the trustee for five years. I’m wondering if I can just withdraw the petition, use the cash to bring my mortgage current (about $20,000 in arrears) and maybe negotiate a settlement with the other creditors. The consulting gig would bring in so much more money than I need to live that I could pay most of the debt off within the next few months anyway. Is this something that creditors would go for after being notified that we were filing? I don’t know if that’s naive but I feel like I’m either the luckiest or the unluckiest person alive. Any thoughts?
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