Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Attorney in Oak Brook, Illinois

Most people who end up in Chapter 13 did not come looking for it. They came in worried about a house, a car, a garnishment or a tax bill, and found out that the chapter that wipes debt out — Chapter 7 — is not the one that saves property you have fallen behind on. Chapter 13 is.

We have been filing these cases in Illinois since 1983, from our office in Oak Brook. What follows is how the chapter actually works, in the order it happens. If you already have a sale date or a hearing date, say so when you call — that changes what we do first.

What Chapter 13 is

The Bankruptcy Code calls it the “adjustment of debts of an individual with regular income”. In plain terms: instead of handing property over to a trustee to be sold, you keep it and pay a court-approved plan out of your income, normally over three to five years. Creditors are paid through the plan rather than by you directly, and at the end the balance of what qualifies is discharged.

Two conditions follow from that description and neither is negotiable. You need income that is regular enough to fund a plan, and the plan has to be one a judge will approve as feasible. That is the test we apply at the consultation, and it is why the honest answer is sometimes that Chapter 13 is not your route. See Chapter 7 versus Chapter 13.

The reason most people file it: the house

Filing under Chapter 13 stops foreclosure proceedings and lets you cure the missed mortgage payments over the life of the plan, rather than in the one lump the servicer wants now. That is the single most useful thing this chapter does, and it is why it sits behind almost every foreclosure defence conversation we have.

There is a condition attached that people miss, and it ends more cases than anything else: you must still make every mortgage payment that comes due during the plan, on time. The arrears go into the plan. The ongoing payment does not. Fall behind again on the current payments and the home can still be lost. More on the mechanics: how a Chapter 13 repayment plan can help.

What filing stops on day one

Filing triggers the automatic stay, which halts most collection action against you and your property without anyone having to argue for it — the calls and letters, a pending wage garnishment, a repossession, a creditor or debt-buyer lawsuit, and foreclosure proceedings. The bankruptcy clerk notifies every creditor whose name and address you list, which is one more reason the schedules have to be complete.

For what the stay does and does not reach, see what the automatic stay stops, or la estancia automática en la bancarrota in Spanish.

The co-signer protection Chapter 7 does not have

Chapter 13 carries a second stay that Chapter 7 does not: the co-debtor stay. Unless the court allows otherwise, a creditor may not chase a consumer debt from someone who is liable alongside you — a parent who co-signed a car loan, a sibling on a personal loan. If a family member co-signed for you, tell us at the consultation. It often decides which chapter makes sense.

Secured debts that are not your house

Chapter 13 also lets you reschedule secured debts other than a mortgage on your primary residence and stretch them over the life of the plan, which can bring the payment down. A car loan is the usual example. The rules here turn on how old the loan is and what the collateral is worth, so it is a question to ask about your own facts rather than to read off a page. The Chapter 7 side of the same question is set out in can I keep my car in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

What you keep

Because nothing is being liquidated, the exemption analysis that dominates a Chapter 7 case works differently here — but it still matters, because your plan has to pay unsecured creditors at least what they would have received in a Chapter 7. Exemptions are what set that floor. Joe's own explainer is Illinois bankruptcy exemptions; the figures are set by statute and change, so we work them out against your actual property rather than a table.

How a case runs

• Credit counselling from an approved agency within the 180 days before filing. Required, with no workaround.
• Petition, schedules and plan. The plan is due with the petition or within 14 days of it unless the court extends the time.
• First payment within 30 days of filing — to the trustee, before any judge has approved the plan. Secured or lease payments that fall due before confirmation, typically home and car, are paid to the lender instead and deducted from the trustee's share.
• Meeting of creditors, 21 to 50 days after filing (up to 60 where there is no regular trustee staffing). Short, and we prepare you for it.
• Confirmation hearing, no later than 45 days after that meeting. The judge decides whether the plan is feasible and meets the Code's standards. Creditors receive 28 days' notice.
• Claims deadlines. Unsecured creditors have 90 days from the first date set for the meeting of creditors to file a claim; a government body has 180 days from filing.
• Three to five years of payments, then discharge of what qualifies.

The official summary is the US Courts' Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Basics. For what the process feels like from the inside, see filing in Illinois, what to expect.

What actually goes wrong

Chapter 13 cases fail for boring reasons, and almost all of them are avoidable. Missing plan payments is the main one — which is why paying by payroll deduction, where it is available to you, measurably improves the odds of finishing. Falling behind again on the current mortgage payment is the second. Leaving a debt off the schedules is the third. If you stop paying under a confirmed plan the court can dismiss the case or convert it to a Chapter 7, and a dismissal puts you back where you started with the clock running.

If your circumstances change mid-plan — a job lost, hours cut, a medical event — tell us early. There is far more that can be done at month eighteen than after a motion to dismiss is on file.

Is Chapter 13 the right chapter for you?

It usually is when you are behind on a home or a car you intend to keep, when your income is above the Chapter 7 threshold, or when most of your debt is the kind a discharge does not touch — support obligations, recent taxes, most student loans. Chapter 7 is usually the better tool when the debt is mostly unsecured, you are current on what you want to keep, and there is little non-exempt property. If the problem is tax debt specifically, look at IRS debt settlement too, because bankruptcy is not always the cheaper answer.

We will tell you which situation you are in, including when the answer is that you should not file at all. See what a case evaluation can tell you and when to call a bankruptcy attorney.

Cost and the next step

There is a court filing fee and our fee, quoted before any work starts; in a Chapter 13 a portion of the attorney's fee is commonly paid through the plan rather than up front, which is part of why the chapter is reachable for people who cannot fund a Chapter 7 retainer. The consultation is free, payment plans are available and we accept all major credit cards — see payment plans explained.

Bring recent pay stubs, your mortgage and car statements, any court papers, and the last two years of tax returns if you have them. If a sale date or a court date is already set, tell us when you call: 630.928.0100, or book a time online. You can read what other clients have said on our reviews page, and about Joe on the firm page.

Nothing on this page is legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Procedure described here was checked against the US Courts' Bankruptcy Basics in September 2026.