One of the features that sets Best Case® Bankruptcy apart is the flexibility and accuracy of our Best Case Chapter 13 Plan Calculator.
Using information that you have already entered in the creditor schedules, the Best Case Chapter 13 Plan Calculator helps you work out the best possible repayment plan quickly and easily. The Plan Calculator performs a great deal of work, splitting each month's 13 Plan payment between the creditors appropriately while taking into account important factors that change with each case.
Since the nature and complexity of Chapter 13 cases vary by client, and since Chapter 13 practices and procedures vary from district to district, we have designed the calculator to give you a great deal of flexibility in determining how, when, and how much each creditor will be paid.
As you enter basic creditor information for creditor Schedules D, E and F, you'll specify how the creditors are to be treated in the 13 Plan using our plan classes.
Plan classes determine:
- when a creditor will be paid in relation to other creditors
- whether the claim will be paid through the plan or outside the plan (if a claim is paid outside the plan, the debtor will make payments to the creditor directly)
- whether the creditor will be paid in full or receive only a portion of the amount due
- and whether you'd like to specify a given monthly payment amount for the creditor or have the plan calculator determine the monthly payment amount.
We have defined 14 different plan treatment classes; in Best Case Bankruptcy, you can also define your own.
In specifying how creditors are to be treated, the Best Case Chapter 13 Plan Calculator gives you more flexibility than any other bankruptcy software package. In Best Case® Bankruptcy you can:
- Specify a different interest rate for each claim.
- Have the debtor continue to make regular mortgage payments to a given creditor outside the plan while paying the arrearage off through the plan. (The arrearage is given special priority and is paid early in the plan.)
- For a secured claim where the amount owed to the creditor is greater than the value of the property securing the lien, (as often happens with high interest car loans), the claim can be split into a secured portion and an unsecured portion, allowing you to "cram down" the claim. (The plan calculator will make sure the secured portion is paid in full, and will treat the unsecured portion like other unsecured Schedule F claims.)
- For a priority (Schedule E) claim where the full amount of the claim is not entitled to priority you can split the claim into a priority portion and a nonpriority portion, where the priority portion is paid in full and the nonpriority portion is treated like unsecured nonpriority Schedule F claims
- Designate a claim as ineligible for §506 Valuation using the SF5, SP5 plan classes.
- For a secured claim where the property is fully exempt, choose the Secured, Avoid Lien class; the plan calculator treats the claim as a regular unsecured nonpriority claim.
- For Schedule F claims that the debtor wants to pay in full, (for example, when there is a codebtor), you can use Unsecured, Special Class, Pay 100% to make sure the claim is paid in full.
- For secured claims where the debtor would like to continue making regular payments, select the Secured, Fixed Payment class and specify the monthly payment amount.
- Use the DSO or DSG plan classes to pay the arrearage portion of a Domestic Support Obligation through the plan while continuing to make post-petition payments directly to the creditor.
- The plan calculator allows you to differentiate between secured creditors who will be paid off entirely through the plan, and those whose terms will extend beyond the length of the plan, (for example, mortgages generally are not paid off in the course of the plan.) You can also differentiate between those creditors who will be paid through the plan and those who will receive payments directly from the debtor.
The Best Case Bankruptcy User's Guide and on-line help systems fully explain the assignment of plan classes.
When you have assigned treatment classes to each creditor, you will go into the Best Case Chapter 13 Plan Calculator (pictured below) to work out a repayment plan. If the debtor will pay a portion of the attorney's fee or filing fee through the plan, these payments will be given priority.
To calculate the plan, you'll generally do one of three things:
- Enter the monthly payment amount that the debtor can afford and the length of the plan, then press the Calculate button. The Best Case Chapter 13 Plan Calculator will determine the percentage that is left for unsecured creditors and display that amount on the screen. It will also determine how much and when each creditor will be paid. If the monthly payment amount is not sufficient to pay secured and priority creditors in full, the calculator will give you a message that you need to increase the monthly payment amount.
- Alternatively, you can put a question mark in the payment field, enter the length of the plan, and specify what percentage you would like to pay unsecured creditors. The plan calculator will determine the minimum monthly payment amount necessary to achieve this payout.
- Or, specify the monthly payment that the debtor can afford and the percentage that you want to pay unsecured creditors then click Calculate to have the plan calculator determine the length of the plan.
In Best Case Bankruptcy, you can create a "Step Plan" where the debtor pays different amounts into the plan during set time periods. You can also specify "Lump sum" payments; for example, if the debtor is expecting a tax refund or proceeds from the sale of property, you can enter this amount as a lump sum payment to be contributed to the plan.
The Summary section of the Best Case Chapter 13 Plan Calculator, pictured above, will show the total of all plan payments and give a general summary of how this breaks down into the amount used to pay the attorney's fee and filing fee, the amount used to pay the trustee, the amount to creditors which pays the principal of debts and the amount which pays interest on debts.
Other sections of the plan calculator, such as the Claims tab pictured below, give you more detailed information about how monthly payments will be distributed each month and how much and when each creditor will be paid. The liquidation analysis section shows how unsecured nonpriority creditors would have fared if the debtor had filed under chapter 7 instead of 13. These sections can be accessed by clicking the different tabs at the top of the Chapter 13 Plan window. You can print a report of any of these screens for your reference. At any time while you are working on the plan, you can change the treatment of any individual creditor.
The Best Case Chapter 13 Plan Calculator gives you a great deal of flexibility to treat creditors the way you want to treat them. In addition, options in the Setup Menu allow you to specify variables such as the trustee's fee for each district, whether the trustee's fee is calculated on contributions or disbursements, and define your own treatment classes, if necessary.
When you are ready, send the Chapter 13 plan to your printer. The Chapter 13 Plan can be quickly opened and edited in the internal word processor, the Best Case Editor for added flexibility.
Best Case Bankruptcy includes a standard Chapter 13 Plan format that is accepted in many districts in the country. Some districts however, require the Chapter 13 Plan to be printed in a very specific format. Best Case offers a number of such district-specific custom Chapter 13 Plans at an additional cost. To see a list of the custom Chapter 13 Plans offered, click on Local Forms Sold as Add-Ons.
To learn more about our Chapter 13 Plan Calculator, download the demo version of Best Case Bankruptcy. Our User's Guide contains an entire chapter discussing the various options that you have in the calculator, and on-line help topics guide you through each screen.
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