Remaining Debt after a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
After you’ve completed a payment plan in accordance with your Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, the court will basically close the case and discharge any remaining balances on most of your debts. A discharge is akin to a forgiveness of those debts, which means that you do not have to pay any remaining balances.
However, as is the case with other forms of bankruptcy, certain debts cannot be discharged based on how they arose, and examples of these debts include:
- Tax debts
- Student loans
- Child support
- Spousal support
- Debts for intentional torts such as battery
- Debts for recent credit purchases
- Fraud
- Debts incurred for operating a vehicle while intoxicated
There are a few others, but the basis behind not allowing these debts to be discharged is obvious. After you emerge from your payment plan and your other debts are discharged, these debts will usually remain. Other secured debts, such as mortgages, are generally made outside the payment plan and are not part of the case. Therefore, those payments will continue to be due as always.