All the Sources of Income May be Utilized in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

What if someone was receiving only retirement benefits; could they utilize those funds to make payments?

We use all sources of income, retirement, rental payments, regular income, EDD, if you are on an employment, we can use that employment because at that point, it’s a question of feasibility. Are you making enough money to be able to pay it back what you’re proposing to pay back? Most people, especially with the elderly, who are on a fixed retirement income, the income is not enough to pay back the debt. It might be barely enough to cover their expenses, so then you have a feasibility problem and Chapter 7 might be better for you. But we do have retired individuals who have a pretty good pension, and they’re in a Chapter 13 and taking their house or paying back tax liability. Maybe you pulled out of a 401-K too soon and you’ve incurred a tax penalty that you can’t pay back right away, we do have cases like that. The important thing is to explore all the possibilities.