On March 14, 2019, the Bankruptcy Court announced modifications to the local form chapter 13 plan that will be effective for all cases filed on or after May 1, 2019.

Judge Waites invites members of the South Carolina Bankruptcy Bar that practice before him to a meeting to discuss how these District-wide changes will specifically affect the chapter 13 cases assigned to him.

The meeting will be held at 11:30 AM after the close of the docket in Charleston scheduled for Thursday, April 25, 2019. Attorneys and staff from either the Charleston or Columbia divisions may attend in person or by telephone. Please RSVP for the meeting to Agnes Babb at Agnes_Babb@scb.uscourts.gov no later than 12:00 PM on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. In the RSVP, please indicate whether you anticipate attending in person or by telephone.

Below is a short summary of the recent and upcoming changes to the chapter 13 practice that will be discussed in more detail at the meeting. A more detailed summary of these changes is available here.

Changes to the Chapter 13 Plan in cases filed on or after May 1, 2019:

Part 1: Changes to the notice to creditors of objection deadline.

Part 3:  Changes to #3.2 and #3.3 regarding the satisfaction of liens.

Part 4: Changes to #4.4 elimination of extraneous language and clarification.

Other recent and upcoming changes:  

Presumptive interest rate in Chapter 13 Cases filed on or after May 1, 2019 increases to 6.25%.

Adjustments to the dollar amounts listed in the Bankruptcy Code became effective on April 1, 2019.  Notably, Chapter 13 debt limits under §109(e) were changed to $419,275 unsecured and $1,257,850 secured for cases filed on or after that date.    Other changes to adjusted dollar amounts can be found here.