Does Chapter 13 Keep You From Paying Child Support?

Current Support

When you file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, either your lawyer or the bankruptcy trustee first establishes how much you must spend each month on reasonable and necessary expenses. The Bankruptcy Code classifies your child support as a necessary expense. Your lawyer or trustee deducts your necessary monthly expenses, including child support, from your total monthly income. The difference is the amount of money available to you each month to pay off your debts in a Chapter 13 plan.

If you owe past due child support when you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you can usually include these arrears in the debts you are repaying over the course of the Chapter 13 plan. Generally, creditors who make a claim for the money you owe them through your repayment plan are subject to a "stay" when you file for bankruptcy; they can't continue collection efforts against you. A government agency, such as the court, who is trying to collect back child support or arrears from you is exempt from this stay. But you or your bankruptcy attorney can ask the court to make an exception, and the court generally will do so if your repayment plan includes paying your support arrears.

Under the 2005 revision to the Bankruptcy Code, even if you pay off all your creditors over the five-year Chapter 13 repayment plan, the court still won't discharge your bankruptcy unless you have paid all child support that was due after the date you filed your bankruptcy petition. You have to file a certification, or a sworn statement, with the bankruptcy court, attesting that you paid all child support due from the time you requested bankruptcy protection to the time the court confirms that your repayment plan has been completed.

Generally, your creditors will not receive 100 percent of what you owe them in a Chapter 13 repayment plan. Chapter 13 bankruptcy usually satisfies your debts by paying a lesser amount to each of your creditors over five years than you would have paid if you had tried to keep making minimum payments to all of them individually. Even your state child support collection unit will usually receive less than 100 cents on each dollar you owe them. Filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy can't erase your support obligation, but it might reduce the amount of your arrears.