Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Florida: How It Actually Works

A step-by-step explanation from a Florida consumer bankruptcy attorney. Written in plain English — with the law cited underneath, so you can check every word.

Chapter 13 is the chapter that saves things.

Chapter 7 erases debt. Chapter 13 does something different, and for a lot of people, something better: it gives you a way to catch up on what matters — your house, your car, your back taxes — while the law holds every creditor still and stops the interest, the late fees, and the foreclosure.

If you are behind on a mortgage and want to keep the house, Chapter 13 is very likely the answer. If you make too much to qualify for Chapter 7, it’s the answer. If you owe your ex from a divorce, or have recent tax debt, or someone co-signed for you, it may be the answer.

It also asks more of you than Chapter 7 does. It runs three or five years, and you have to make the payments. We are going to be straight with you about that — including about how often these cases don’t finish, and why, because we would rather you go in with your eyes open than be surprised in year two.

Quick answers at a glance

Question	Short answer
What is Chapter 13?	One affordable monthly payment for 3 or 5 years, then remaining debt is erased.
Will I lose property?	No. Nothing is sold. Keeping property is the whole point.
Who qualifies?	Anyone with regular income and debts under the limits. No means test to pass.
Debt limits	Under $526,700 unsecured and under $1,580,125 secured.
Can it stop foreclosure?	Yes — and let you keep the house by catching up over 3–5 years.
How much do I pay?	Based on your income and what the law requires — not on what you owe.
Do unsecured creditors get paid in full?	Usually not. Many plans pay them pennies, or nothing.
How long?	3 years if below the Florida median income, 5 years if above.
First payment due?	Within 30 days of filing — before your plan is even approved.
Biggest risk?	Not finishing. Roughly a third to a half of cases don’t. Read Part 5.
Erases more than Chapter 7?	Yes — notably divorce property settlements.

Jump to a section

1. How does Chapter 13 actually work?
2. How does a person qualify?
3. How long does each step take?
4. What debts get erased — and what doesn’t?
5. What to be careful about — read this one twice
6. What is the end result?
7. Chapter 7 or Chapter 13?

---

Part 1: How does Chapter 13 actually work?

Short answer: You make one affordable monthly payment to a trustee for three or five years. The trustee pays your creditors in the order the law requires. At the end, whatever unsecured debt is left over gets erased.

Chapter 13 is sometimes called “reorganization” or the “wage earner’s plan.” Here is the real machinery:

1. You file, and everything freezes. The automatic stay stops foreclosures, repossessions, garnishments, lawsuits, and collection calls the moment your case hits the docket.

2. You propose a plan. This is a document your attorney drafts that says: here is my one monthly payment, here is how long I’ll make it, and here is who gets paid what.

3. Nothing is sold. No trustee liquidates your property. This is the fundamental difference from Chapter 7 — you are proposing to pay rather than to have property examined for sale.

4. The judge confirms the plan. Creditors can object, but if the plan meets the legal requirements, it is approved over their objection. They do not get a vote in any meaningful sense.

5. You pay for 36 or 60 months. One payment, to the trustee, who distributes it.

6. You get a discharge. Whatever eligible unsecured debt remains is erased.

How is my payment calculated?

This is the part that surprises people most, so read it carefully:

Your payment is not based on what you owe. It is based on what you can afford and what the law requires certain creditors to receive.

Two people with identical $90,000 debt loads can have wildly different payments. What actually drives the number:

Things the plan MUST pay in full:

• Administrative costs — the trustee’s fee (a percentage of what flows through, up to 10%) and your attorney’s fee
• Priority claims — recent income taxes, and any back child support or alimony
• Mortgage arrears, if you are curing a default to save the house
• Secured claims you are paying through the plan, such as a crammed-down car

What unsecured creditors get: whatever is left of your disposable income after the above — which is often very little, and sometimes nothing.

A “0% plan” is completely legal and quite common. If all of your available income goes to mortgage arrears and back taxes, your credit card companies may receive nothing at all and still have their balances erased at the end. Clients are frequently astonished by this. It is not a loophole; it is how the statute works.

One floor applies: unsecured creditors must receive at least what they would have gotten if you had filed Chapter 7 instead. For most people that amount is zero, because their property is fully exempt — which is exactly why 0% plans are so common in Florida.

What Chapter 13 can do that Chapter 7 cannot

This list is the real reason Chapter 13 exists:

Chapter 13 power	What it means
Cure mortgage arrears	Catch up on missed payments over 3–5 years and keep the house.
Strip a second mortgage	If your home is worth less than the first mortgage, the second can be wiped out entirely.
Cram down a car loan	On a car bought more than 910 days ago, reduce the loan to the car’s actual value and often lower the interest rate.
Pay back taxes over time	Spread recent tax debt across the plan, usually without additional penalties accruing.
Erase divorce property settlements	Dischargeable in Chapter 13. Not dischargeable in Chapter 7.
Protect your co-signer	A co-debtor stay shields the person who co-signed for you. Chapter 7 has no equivalent.
Keep non-exempt property	Own something the exemptions don’t cover? Pay for it through the plan instead of losing it.
File when you can’t pass the means test	Chapter 13 has no means test to fail.
Cure a car loan default	Stop a repossession and catch up.

The law behind this: 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) (automatic stay); 11 U.S.C. § 1321 (debtor files a plan); 11 U.S.C. § 1322(a)(2) (priority claims paid in full); 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(5) (curing defaults on long-term debt); 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2) with § 506(a) (stripping wholly unsecured junior liens); Nobelman v. American Savings Bank, 508 U.S. 324 (1993) (limits on modifying a first mortgage on a principal residence); 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5) and the “hanging paragraph” following § 1325(a)(9) (secured claim treatment and the 910-day rule for vehicles); 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(4) (best-interests test — unsecured creditors must receive at least Chapter 7 liquidation value); 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b) (projected disposable income); 11 U.S.C. § 1326(b) and § 507(a)(2) (administrative expenses and trustee compensation); 28 U.S.C. § 586(e) (trustee percentage fee); 11 U.S.C. § 1301 (co-debtor stay); 11 U.S.C. § 1327 (a confirmed plan binds creditors); 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15) with § 1328(a) (divorce property settlements dischargeable in Chapter 13).

---

Part 2: How does a person qualify for Chapter 13?

Short answer: You need regular income and debts below the statutory limits. There is no means test to pass. Chapter 13 is, in most respects, easier to qualify for than Chapter 7.

Requirement 1: Regular income

You must be an individual with regular income — and “regular” is far broader than people assume. All of these count:

• Wages from a job
• Self-employment or 1099 income
• Social Security, disability, and pension income
• Rental income
• Unemployment benefits
• Alimony or child support you receive
• Reliable contributions from a family member

You do not need a W-2 job. You need income the court can believe will keep arriving. Retirees on fixed income file Chapter 13 all the time.

Note the flip side: if you have no income at all, Chapter 13 will not work, because there is nothing to fund a plan with.

Requirement 2: Debt below the limits

For cases filed April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028:

Type of debt	Limit
Unsecured (credit cards, medical, personal loans)	Less than $526,700
Secured (mortgages, car loans, liens)	Less than $1,580,125

You must be under both. Only “noncontingent, liquidated” debts count — a pending lawsuit against you with no judgment yet generally doesn’t.

A note on how these got here: during the pandemic Congress temporarily replaced these with a single combined $2,750,000 cap. That provision expired June 21, 2024, and eligibility reverted to the two separate limits above. If you read an article citing $2.75 million, it is out of date.

Requirement 3: Credit counseling before filing

A short approved course, within 180 days before you file. Roughly $10–$50, reduced or waived if you cannot afford it.

Requirement 4: Your tax returns must be filed

You must have filed all required tax returns for the four years before filing. This is a hard requirement, and it is one of the most common reasons a Chapter 13 stalls out of the gate. If you have unfiled returns, tell us at the consultation — it is fixable, but it takes lead time.

Requirement 5: Current on child support and alimony

You must be current on domestic support obligations to get your plan confirmed, and current again to get your discharge at the end.

Requirement 6: No recent bar from filing

If a prior bankruptcy was dismissed in the last 180 days because you failed to appear or comply with court orders — or you voluntarily dismissed it after a creditor asked for relief from the stay — you may be barred from filing right now.

A separate question: can you get a discharge?

You can file Chapter 13 sooner than you might think, but the discharge has its own timing rules:

• No Chapter 13 discharge if you received a Chapter 7 discharge in a case filed within the past 4 years.
• No Chapter 13 discharge if you received a Chapter 13 discharge in a case filed within the past 2 years.

This distinction genuinely matters. Someone who just got a Chapter 7 discharge can still file a Chapter 13 to save a house or strip a lien — they simply won’t receive a second discharge. Practitioners call this a “Chapter 20,” and it is a legitimate strategy, not a trick.

How long will my plan run?

This is where the Florida median income figure comes in — not to qualify you, but to set your plan length:

Your income	Plan length
At or below the Florida median	3 years
Above the Florida median	5 years

Florida median family income — cases filed on or after 15 July 2026:

Household size	Florida median income
1	$69,876
2	$86,523
3	$97,540
4	$114,761
Each additional person	add $11,100

Same six-month lookback as Chapter 7, and Social Security is still excluded from the calculation. A plan can be stretched to five years for cause, but five years is the maximum.

Finally: the plan has to be feasible and in good faith

The judge must find that you can actually make the payments and that you are filing honestly. This is not a high bar for someone in good faith — but it is the reason a plan built on wishful budgeting gets rejected, which we return to in Part 5.

The law behind this: 11 U.S.C. § 109(e) (individual with regular income; debt limits of $526,700 unsecured and $1,580,125 secured for cases filed April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028); 11 U.S.C. § 101(30) (definition of individual with regular income); Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act, Pub. L. No. 117-151 (combined $2,750,000 limit, expired June 21, 2024); 11 U.S.C. § 109(h) (credit counseling); 11 U.S.C. § 1308 (tax returns for the four years preceding filing); 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(8) and § 1328(a) (domestic support obligations current); 11 U.S.C. § 109(g) (180-day bar after certain dismissals); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f) (4-year and 2-year discharge bars); 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(4) (applicable commitment period of 3 or 5 years); 11 U.S.C. § 1322(d) (five-year maximum); 11 U.S.C. § 101(10A)(B) (Social Security excluded from current monthly income); 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(3), (a)(6) (good faith and feasibility); U.S. Trustee Program, Census Bureau Median Family Income by Family Size (cases filed on or after 15 July 2026).

---

Part 3: How long does each step take?

Short answer: The case runs three or five years, but the protection starts on day one and your plan is usually approved within two to four months.

Before filing: 1 to 6 weeks

Documents, the counseling course, and getting any unfiled tax returns filed. If a foreclosure sale is imminent, this compresses to a day or two — tell us the deadline.

On fees: most of the attorney fee in a Chapter 13 is paid through your plan rather than before filing, so many people start a Chapter 13 having paid very little out of pocket. If you are facing foreclosure with no savings, that is often decisive. (Our Chapter 7 clients who qualify also file with nothing down — here’s how that works — so the money question shouldn’t drive your choice of chapter. The right chapter for your situation should.) The actual figures are on What Bankruptcy Costs.

Day 0: Filing

• Automatic stay begins. Foreclosure sale stopped. Garnishment stopped. Repossession stopped.
• Co-debtor stay begins — protection for anyone who co-signed a consumer debt with you.
• A Chapter 13 trustee is assigned.

Within 14 days: The plan is filed

Your proposed plan goes on the docket, and creditors receive it.

Within 30 days: Your first payment is due

This is the deadline people miss, so we are putting it in bold: your first plan payment is due within 30 days of filing — before the judge has approved anything.

You start paying while the plan is still pending. If the plan is later denied, that money comes back to you. But you must start. Budget for it from day one.

Days 21–40: The meeting of creditors

By Zoom, 5 to 10 minutes, run by the trustee. Same as Chapter 7.

Within 45 days after that meeting: The confirmation hearing

The judge considers your plan. In practice, confirmation lands somewhere around two to four months after filing — sometimes later if a creditor objects, if the trustee wants changes, or if you are in a mortgage modification mediation program.

Your attorney handles this. Most clients do not attend.

Months 1 through 36 or 60: Making payments

One payment per month, usually by direct payroll deduction or automatic bank draft. During this stretch:

• You keep making your regular mortgage payment directly to the lender (while the plan cures the arrears).
• Your mortgage servicer must file notice of any payment or escrow change — your attorney watches these, because an unnoticed escrow increase can quietly break a plan.
• You file your tax returns every year and keep them filed.
• Many trustees require you to turn over tax refunds above a threshold. Adjust your withholding so you aren’t generating large refunds in the first place.
• Taking on new debt requires trustee or court approval. That includes financing a car.
• If your circumstances change, the plan can be modified. See Part 5.

The end: Discharge

You complete the financial management course, certify that your support obligations are current, the trustee files a final report, and the court enters your discharge. Remaining eligible unsecured debt is erased.

The law behind this: 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) and § 1301 (automatic stay and co-debtor stay); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3015(b) (plan filed with the petition or within 14 days); 11 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(1) (first payment due within 30 days of filing or the order for relief, whichever is earlier); 11 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(2) (payments returned if the plan is not confirmed); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2003(a) (meeting of creditors 21–40 days after the order for relief); 11 U.S.C. § 1324(b) (confirmation hearing not later than 45 days after the meeting of creditors); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3002.1 (notice of mortgage payment and escrow changes, and final cure determination); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(g) (financial management course); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a) (certification regarding domestic support obligations); 11 U.S.C. § 1329 (modification of a confirmed plan).

---

Part 4: What debts get erased — and what doesn’t?

Short answer: Chapter 13’s discharge is broader than Chapter 7’s. The headline difference: divorce property settlements are erased in Chapter 13 and are not in Chapter 7.

Erased at the end of your plan

• Credit cards and store cards
• Medical bills
• Personal and payday loans
• Deficiency balances after a repossession or foreclosure
• Most money judgments
• Divorce property settlements and equitable distribution obligations — not dischargeable in Chapter 7
• Older income taxes that don’t qualify as priority claims
• Business debts you personally guaranteed
• Some government penalties that are not criminal fines or restitution
• Certain debts for willful and malicious injury to property, where no personal injury or death resulted

Not erased

Debt	Notes
Child support and alimony	Never dischargeable in any chapter.
Priority taxes	Paid in full through your plan, so they’re gone — but paid, not erased.
Most student loans	Still require a separate undue hardship case.
Debts from fraud or a false financial statement	Survive.
Fiduciary fraud, embezzlement, larceny	Survive.
Death or injury from drunk driving	Survive. Always.
Criminal fines and restitution	Survive.
Willful and malicious injury causing personal injury or death	Survives.
Debts you didn’t list	May survive. Disclose everything.
Long-term debts you’re keeping	A mortgage you’re continuing to pay isn’t “erased” — you keep paying it.

The divorce point deserves its own paragraph, because it changes people’s lives. If your divorce decree requires you to pay your ex $30,000 for their share of the marital home, Chapter 7 cannot touch that obligation. Chapter 13 can erase it. That single fact is sometimes the entire reason a client files Chapter 13 rather than Chapter 7. Support — actual child support and alimony — is never dischargeable, and courts look at the substance of the obligation rather than the label the decree puts on it, so this requires real analysis.

One important asterisk: the hardship discharge

If you cannot finish your plan through no fault of your own, you may be able to get a hardship discharge early. But be aware — the hardship discharge is narrower. It erases less than a completed plan does, and it applies all of the Chapter 7 exceptions, meaning you would lose the divorce-settlement advantage. Finishing the plan is worth real money.

The law behind this: 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a) (discharge upon completion of plan payments); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a)(2) (incorporating only § 523(a)(1)(B), (1)(C), (2), (3), (4), (5), (8), and (9) — notably omitting § 523(a)(15), which is why divorce property settlements are dischargeable in Chapter 13); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a)(1) (long-term debts provided for under § 1322(b)(5)); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a)(3) (criminal restitution and fines); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a)(4) (willful or malicious injury resulting in personal injury or death — narrower than § 523(a)(6)); 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(5) (domestic support obligations); 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8) (student loans); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(b) (hardship discharge); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(c) (hardship discharge subject to the full § 523(a) exceptions).

---

Part 5: What to be careful about

This is the section you should read twice. Chapter 13 is a powerful tool with one significant weakness, and we would rather tell you about it plainly than have you discover it in year two.

1. The honest truth about completion rates

A large share of Chapter 13 cases do not reach discharge. You will see figures ranging from roughly a third to roughly half completing, depending on whose study you read and how “success” gets counted. That range is wide for real reasons, and the honest version has three parts:

The commonly quoted “one in three” figure understates it. A 2025 empirical study pointed out a methodological problem: dismissed cases close fast while successful cases take three to five years, so counting only closed cases in a given year systematically undercounts the successes. Corrected estimates run meaningfully higher.

Some “failures” were actually wins. A client who files Chapter 13, stops a foreclosure, negotiates a loan modification through mediation, gets the house permanently fixed, and then voluntarily dismisses — that case is recorded as a dismissal. The client got exactly what they came for. The statistics cannot see the difference.

But representation is the variable that dwarfs everything else. The same study found the plan completion rate for people filing without a lawyer is about 1.2% — roughly one in eighty, not one in three. Chapter 13 is a procedurally demanding, deadline-dense, multi-year process, and it is close to unwinnable alone.

What actually causes cases to fail:

• Income instability — job loss during a three-to-five-year window is the leading cause
• Plans built on optimistic budgets with no margin for a car repair or a medical bill
• Missed tax filings during the plan
• An attorney who files the case and then disengages

What this means for you: the number you should care about is not the national average. It is whether your plan is realistically built and whether your lawyer will still be answering the phone in month 30. Ask any attorney you interview both questions directly.

2. Your first payment is due within 30 days — before confirmation

Budget for it now. Missing early payments is a fast route to dismissal.

3. You will be making two payments, not one

Your plan payment and your regular mortgage payment. Both. Every month. For years. When we build your budget, this is the number that decides whether the case is feasible — and it is why we would rather propose a plan that looks a little tight than one that looks comfortable but isn’t.

4. Insist on a realistic budget, even if the payment comes out higher

The temptation is to shave the grocery line and the car-repair line to get the payment down. It confirms more easily and it fails in month fourteen. A plan you can actually live inside for five years is worth more than a plan that looks good at confirmation.

5. Fix your tax withholding now

Many trustees require turnover of refunds above a set amount. A $5,000 refund is not a windfall in Chapter 13 — it is money that may go to creditors. Adjust your withholding so the money reaches you in your paycheck, where it funds your plan payment instead.

6. File your tax returns every single year

During the plan, not just before it. Unfiled returns are a routine cause of dismissal.

7. You cannot take on new debt without permission

No financing a car, no new credit cards, without trustee or court approval. Plan for major purchases in advance.

8. If something goes wrong, call us before you miss payments

This is the most actionable advice on this page. A Chapter 13 in trouble is not a cliff. The tools available:

Tool	What it does
Modify the plan	Lower the payment, extend the term, change the treatment of a claim.
Suspend payments	Temporary relief for a layoff, illness, or emergency.
Convert to Chapter 7	You have a near-absolute right to convert.
Hardship discharge	Early discharge if you can’t finish through no fault of your own.
Voluntary dismissal	You can generally dismiss your own case if your goals are met.

Every one of these is far easier to use before you fall behind. The clients whose cases fail are usually the ones who went quiet for three months out of embarrassment. Please do not do that. We have heard it all, and none of it changes how we treat you.

9. Your first mortgage principal cannot be reduced

You can cure arrears, but you cannot cram down the balance on your primary residence’s first mortgage. This is a hard statutory rule.

10. The 910-day rule limits car cramdowns

If you bought the vehicle within 910 days before filing for personal use, you generally cannot reduce the loan to the car’s value.

11. Above the median means a five-year commitment

Not three. Know which one you’re signing up for before you file.

12. Watch for mortgage escrow changes

Your servicer must give notice of payment changes. Property insurance in Florida can move sharply, and an unnoticed escrow increase quietly breaks otherwise healthy plans. Forward every mortgage notice you receive to your attorney.

13. Prior cases follow you

If you had a case dismissed in the past year, the automatic stay may last only 30 days, or may not take effect at all, unless we file a motion promptly. Disclose every prior filing — including one you filed yourself years ago and forgot about.

14. All the Chapter 7 pre-filing cautions still apply

Do not pay back family members, do not transfer or gift property, do not touch retirement funds, and disclose absolutely everything. Those cautions apply with equal force here.

The law behind this: 11 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(1) (first payment within 30 days); 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(6) (feasibility — the debtor must be able to make all payments); 11 U.S.C. § 1307(c) (grounds for dismissal or conversion, including material default); 11 U.S.C. § 1329 (modification of a confirmed plan); 11 U.S.C. § 1307(a) (near-absolute right to convert to Chapter 7); 11 U.S.C. § 1307(b) (voluntary dismissal); 11 U.S.C. § 1328(b) (hardship discharge); 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2) (anti-modification of a claim secured by the debtor’s principal residence); Nobelman v. American Savings Bank, 508 U.S. 324 (1993); the “hanging paragraph” following 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(9) (910-day rule); 11 U.S.C. § 1308 (tax return filing requirement); 11 U.S.C. § 364 and § 1305 (post-petition credit); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3002.1 (mortgage payment change notices); 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3), (c)(4) (limits on the stay after prior dismissed cases); 11 U.S.C. § 109(g) (180-day bar). On completion rates: Hynes, Chapter 13 Outcomes, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (2025) (finding the discharge rate higher than the commonly cited one-third figure, and a plan completion rate of approximately 1.2% for pro se filers); American Bankruptcy Institute analysis of cases closed 2010–2016 (approximately 38.8% completed with a discharge); Federal Judicial Center district-level dismissal data.

---

Part 6: What is the end result?

Short answer: A permanent federal court order erasing your remaining debt — plus a house you kept, a car that’s paid off, taxes that are cleared, and three to five years of on-time payment history behind you.

Here is what the finish line actually looks like:

Your house is yours and you are current. No arrears. No foreclosure. The court formally determines that your mortgage default has been cured — so your servicer cannot come back later claiming you still owe pre-bankruptcy amounts.

Your car is paid off — possibly for considerably less than you originally owed, if it was crammed down.

Your back taxes are gone, paid through the plan rather than hanging over you.

A stripped second mortgage is permanently gone.

Whatever unsecured debt remains is erased by a discharge order that is a permanent federal injunction. Those creditors can never legally pursue you again — not in five years, not in thirty. A creditor who violates it is in contempt of court, and you can recover damages and attorney’s fees. We litigate those cases.

You have built something Chapter 7 filers don’t get: 36 to 60 consecutive on-time payments. Lenders can see that. The bureaus generally remove a Chapter 13 after 7 years, sooner than the 10 years the law permits — and many clients are financing a car well before the plan even ends.

And the door isn’t sealed behind you. If life goes sideways again, Chapter 7 remains available later. The timing rule runs the other direction from the one in Part 2: once you have received a Chapter 13 discharge, you generally cannot receive a Chapter 7 discharge in a case filed within six years of that Chapter 13 filing — unless your plan paid unsecured creditors in full, or paid at least 70% under a plan the court finds was proposed in good faith and was your best effort. Because most Florida plans pay unsecured creditors very little, six years is usually the practical answer.

(Careful with these two numbers — they are not the same and they run in opposite directions. Four years is the wait for a Chapter 13 discharge after a Chapter 7. Six years is the wait for a Chapter 7 discharge after a Chapter 13. Mixing them up is one of the more expensive mistakes in consumer bankruptcy.)

If your plan doesn’t finish

We’re not going to pretend everyone crosses the line. So, honestly: if it doesn’t work out, you have options — convert to Chapter 7 and get a discharge that way, seek a hardship discharge, or dismiss and keep whatever ground you gained. Every payment you made went somewhere real: arrears cured, taxes paid, a car paid down. Many clients who dismiss a Chapter 13 in year three are still substantially better off than when they walked in.

A Chapter 13 that ends early is a setback. It is not a catastrophe, and it is not the end of your options.

And the part that isn’t in any statute

Clients who finish a Chapter 13 describe something Chapter 7 clients don’t quite have. They didn’t just get relief — they paid what they could, for years, and kept the house doing it. There is a particular kind of pride in that, and it is earned.

If you have been treating this as a personal failure, consider that Congress built this system deliberately, and the Supreme Court described its purpose nearly a century ago as giving the honest but unfortunate debtor a clear field for future effort, unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt.

Chapter 13 is that clear field — with your house still standing on it.

The law behind this: 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a) (discharge upon completion of plan payments); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3002.1(f)–(h) (determination that the mortgage default has been cured); 11 U.S.C. § 524(a)(2) (discharge injunction); 11 U.S.C. § 105(a) (contempt authority); Taggart v. Lorenzen, 587 U.S. 554 (2019); 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(1) (10-year credit reporting limit; the major bureaus voluntarily remove completed Chapter 13 cases after 7 years); 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(8), (a)(9) (timing for a later Chapter 7 discharge); 11 U.S.C. § 1307(a) (conversion); Local Loan Co. v. Hunt, 292 U.S. 234, 244 (1934) (the purpose of the fresh start).

---

Chapter 7 or Chapter 13?

Your situation	Likely chapter
Behind on the mortgage, want to keep the house	Chapter 13
Income above the Florida median	Chapter 13
Owe a divorce property settlement	Chapter 13
Recent income tax debt	Chapter 13
Someone co-signed for you	Chapter 13
Second mortgage on an underwater home	Chapter 13
More equity than the exemptions cover	Chapter 13
Mostly credit cards and medical bills, income below median	Chapter 7
Want it over in four months	Chapter 7
Nothing to protect and no arrears to cure	Chapter 7

This is the most consequential decision in your case, and it is made before anything gets filed. It is also close to impossible to make well from a website — including this one.

Talk to us

The consultation is free, and there is no obligation. Bring your mortgage statements, your paperwork, your questions — or bring nothing and just talk.

If a foreclosure sale is scheduled, call today rather than next week. A case filed before the sale takes place stops the sale — the automatic stay is effective the moment the petition is filed, so a filing tomorrow morning can stop a sale tomorrow afternoon. Once the sale happens, the options narrow sharply.

We will tell you honestly whether Chapter 13 is right for you, whether your plan is realistically fundable, and if the answer is no, we will tell you that too.

Debt Relief Legal Group — (813) 231-2088 — aborden@1800debtrelief.com — 14502 N Dale Mabry Hwy Ste 200, Office 304-5, Tampa, FL 33618

Serving consumer bankruptcy clients throughout Florida.

---

About this article

Written by Alan Dexter Borden, a Florida consumer bankruptcy attorney with 17 years of experience in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases, student loan discharge, adversary proceedings, and consumer protection litigation under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act.

Last reviewed: 29 July 2026

This article is general information about Florida and federal bankruptcy law, not legal advice about your situation. Every case is different, and the details matter enormously.

Two sets of figures on this page change on their own schedules. Federal Bankruptcy Code dollar amounts — including the Chapter 13 debt limits — adjust every three years; the amounts here apply to cases filed between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2028. Florida median income figures are updated by the U.S. Trustee Program roughly twice a year; the amounts here apply to cases filed on or after 15 July 2026. Always verify current figures before relying on them.

Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please speak with a licensed bankruptcy attorney before making any decision — especially before moving money or property, or before letting a plan payment go unpaid.