San Gabriel Valley Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Lawyer
A mortgage that is three or four payments behind, a notice of default taped to the door, and a paycheck that still comes in every two weeks: that is the profile of a person who needs Chapter 13 more than any other tool. Wadhwani & Shanfeld is a consumer bankruptcy and debt relief law firm that handles Chapter 13, Chapter 7, foreclosure defense, wage garnishment, and creditor lawsuits for homeowners and working families across the San Gabriel Valley and greater Los Angeles County.
If you are searching for a San Gabriel Valley Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer, you are probably weighing one specific question: can I keep my house, my car, or my paycheck while I deal with what I owe? Chapter 13 exists to answer yes. You propose a repayment plan lasting three to five years, the court confirms it, and creditors are bound by its terms. Your arrears get spread out, your secured property stays with you, and collection stops while you pay.
This is not a program for everyone, and it is not a program you should enter casually. A confirmed plan is a commitment you make to the court, and the choices made before filing, especially which exemption system to use and how to treat a mortgage in default, shape the next five years.
Why Choose Wadhwani & Shanfeld for Chapter 13 Representation
The firm is led by two Board-Certified Specialists in Consumer Bankruptcy, certified through the American Board of Certification, and the team carries more than 90 years of combined legal experience. Clients get direct access to an attorney from the very first call, and cases can be handled entirely by phone, email, video, and online chat, with 100% virtual consultations available. The consultation is free.
Raj Wadhwani, a Southwestern Law School graduate, helped pilot the Best Case Bankruptcy software in 1998 and was the first attorney to file a bankruptcy case electronically in the Central District of California. That matters in Chapter 13, where a plan is a set of detailed schedules and calculations that must be accurate before a trustee ever reviews them. Greg Shanfeld, a University of Southern California law graduate, has handled more than 10,000 bankruptcy cases over three decades, which means he has seen nearly every way a repayment plan can succeed or stall.
Chapter 13 punishes sloppy preparation. A plan that is underfunded, or an exemption system chosen without analysis, can cost a client their equity or their discharge. Board certification in consumer bankruptcy is a meaningful signal here because the work is as much about arithmetic and strategy as it is about court appearances. The firm files in every division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California and moves quickly when a garnishment, foreclosure sale, or repossession is days away.
Situations Where Chapter 13 Is the Right Fit
- Mortgage Arrears and Foreclosure: Chapter 13 lets you cure missed mortgage payments over the life of the plan while staying current on new payments. California sets a minimum timeline between a recorded notice of default and a sale, but reinstatement rights run out five business days before the sale date, so a filing before then can stop the sale and give you years to catch up.
- Income Above the Chapter 7 Means Test: If your household income exceeds the California median for your household size, Chapter 7 may be closed to you. Chapter 13 has no such cutoff, and your payment is based on what you can actually afford after allowed expenses.
- Home Equity Beyond the Exemption: San Gabriel Valley home values can push equity past what California’s homestead exemption protects. In Chapter 7 a trustee could sell the property; in Chapter 13 you keep it and pay creditors the value of the non-exempt equity through the plan.
- Car Loans and Repossession Risk: When you fall behind on an auto loan, Chapter 13 can stop a repossession and let you catch up through the plan, often on better terms than the lender would otherwise offer.
- Priority Tax Debt and Support Arrears: IRS priority taxes and past-due support must be paid in full to be dealt with, but Chapter 13 lets you do that over time, without interest and penalty pressure, in a single manageable payment.
- Wage Garnishment and Judgment Creditors: Filing triggers the automatic stay, which halts most garnishments and bank levies immediately, and the plan then governs what judgment creditors receive.
- Wholly Unsecured Second Mortgages: If your home is worth less than the first mortgage balance, a second mortgage may be stripped off and treated as unsecured debt in the plan, in some cases removing a lien entirely.
- Prior Bankruptcy Filings: Waiting periods can block a Chapter 7, but Chapter 13 is often available much sooner after an earlier case, which makes it the practical option for someone who has filed before.
What to Do in the Days After You Decide to Act
Start with the date on the paper in front of you. If you hold a notice of default, find the recorded date and, if there is a notice of sale, the sale date. California requires that the sale be set no earlier than three months and 20 days after the notice of default is recorded, and the notice of sale must be mailed and posted at least 20 days before the sale. You may cure a monetary default by reinstating the loan until five business days before the sale, which is why a filing should happen well ahead of that line, not on it.
If a creditor has sued you, locate the response deadline on the summons. A collection suit on a written contract generally must be brought within four years, and an oral contract within two, but an expired deadline is a defense you have to raise in a written answer. If you ignore the summons, the court can still enter judgment. Do not make a payment or sign anything acknowledging the debt before you talk to a lawyer; a payment cannot revive a debt that is already time-barred, but a signed acknowledgment of the debt in writing can restart the clock on one that is not. Bring the summons, the complaint, and any letters from the collection firm to your consultation.
Gather your last several pay stubs, recent tax returns, bank statements, your mortgage and car loan statements, and a list of every creditor. Chapter 13 requires a complete picture of income and expenses, because the plan payment is built from it. You must also have lived in California long enough to use its exemptions, which is generally 730 days, so tell your attorney if you moved recently.
Most San Gabriel Valley residents file in the Los Angeles Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, though your division depends on the zip code of your street address, not a P.O. box. Your attorney confirms this with the court’s locator before filing. Within a few weeks of filing you will attend a meeting of creditors with the Chapter 13 trustee, and your plan is then reviewed at a confirmation hearing. In the meantime, begin making the proposed plan payments and keep every new obligation, especially your mortgage, current. Missing those post-filing payments is the most common way plans fail. Do not move money, transfer property, or pay back family members before you speak with counsel; these actions can be unwound and can raise questions about your case.
Choosing Between California’s Two Exemption Systems
California has opted out of the federal exemption scheme, so every filer chooses between two state systems. One is the standard set of exemptions found in Code of Civil Procedure section 704, which includes a homestead exemption that is the greater of the prior year’s countywide median single-family home price, up to a ceiling, or a statutory floor, and that adjusts for inflation every year. The other is the system in section 703.140(b), which has a much smaller residence exemption but offers a wildcard that can be applied to any property, and whose dollar amounts are adjusted every three years. You must pick one system for the entire case.
For most San Gabriel Valley homeowners, the section 704 system is the obvious choice because the homestead protection is substantial. For a renter with a car, savings, and few other assets, the wildcard in the other system may protect more. This is not a form-filling decision. The right answer depends on your equity, your vehicles, your tools of the trade, your retirement accounts, and what creditors might target. In Chapter 13 the exemptions also set a floor on what unsecured creditors must receive through the plan, because they are entitled to at least what they would have gotten in a Chapter 7 liquidation. Choosing well can lower your monthly payment directly.
How Chapter 13 Handles Garnishments, Levies, and Judgments
An ordinary judgment garnishment can take the lesser of 20 percent of your weekly disposable earnings or 40 percent of the amount by which those earnings exceed 48 times the applicable minimum hourly wage, with higher multipliers for biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay periods. Where a local minimum wage is higher than the state’s, the higher rate is used. You can also claim a larger exemption if you show that the money is needed to support yourself or your family. Employers cannot fire you because wages are garnished for a single judgment.
Those protections help, but they do not end the garnishment. Filing a bankruptcy petition does. The automatic stay halts garnishments, bank levies, and collection suits the moment the case is filed. A bank account levy is also subject to an automatic exemption of a set dollar amount per judgment debtor that the bank must apply without any claim from you, though it does not cover levies for child or spousal support or debts owed to the state. A money judgment in California stays enforceable for 10 years and can be renewed, though newer rules limit renewal on certain medical and personal debt judgments to one five-year extension. In Chapter 13, many of these judgments are folded into the plan and paid on the plan’s terms, not on the creditor’s schedule.
Questions San Gabriel Valley Homeowners Ask About Chapter 13
How long does a Chapter 13 plan last?
Plans run three to five years. The length depends on your income relative to the California median and on how much you need to repay, including mortgage arrears and priority debts. Many clients with income above the median are placed on a five-year plan.
Can Chapter 13 stop a foreclosure sale?
Yes. Filing triggers the automatic stay, which halts the sale. The plan then allows you to catch up missed payments over time while paying the regular mortgage going forward. If you file before the reinstatement window closes, you also preserve more options.
Will I lose my home in Chapter 13?
Chapter 13 is designed to let you keep it. Unlike Chapter 7, there is no trustee sale of non-exempt equity. Instead, you pay creditors the value of that equity through the plan. The main risk is defaulting on plan payments or on your ongoing mortgage payments after filing.
What debts get paid in a Chapter 13 plan?
Priority debts such as certain taxes and support arrears are paid in full. Secured debts, like mortgage arrears and car loans, are cured or restructured. Unsecured debts such as credit cards and medical bills receive whatever the plan provides, based on your disposable income and the value of your non-exempt property, and the remainder is discharged at completion.
Can I file Chapter 13 if I filed bankruptcy before?
Usually yes, subject to waiting periods. You generally wait four years after a Chapter 7 and two years after a prior Chapter 13. Those rules interact with other filing requirements, so your attorney needs to review your prior case dates and discharge history first.
Do I need a minimum income to qualify?
You need regular income sufficient to fund the plan and keep up with ongoing expenses, including your mortgage. Debt limits also apply, and your attorney will check that you fit within them. Self-employed filers are not excluded, but their income must be documented carefully.
Can Chapter 13 remove a second mortgage?
In some cases. If your home is worth less than the balance owed on the first mortgage, a second mortgage that is completely unsecured can be stripped off and treated as unsecured debt in the plan. It depends on a current valuation of the property, which your attorney will address before filing.
What happens if I fall behind on plan payments?
The trustee may move to dismiss the case, which would end the automatic stay and let creditors resume collection. Often the plan can be modified, for example after a job loss or reduction in hours, or the case can be converted to Chapter 7 if you qualify. Tell your attorney early if your income changes.
Can I keep my car if it was repossessed before I file?
It depends on timing. California requires written notice before a repossessed vehicle is sold, with a minimum notice period and a short extension available on written request. If the car has not yet been sold, filing can sometimes recover it. After a sale, the issue is usually the deficiency balance, which can be dealt with in the plan or discharged.
Can a creditor still sue me under California’s Rosenthal Act if it harasses me during the plan?
The Rosenthal Act applies to original creditors and collectors alike and allows damages and attorney fees to a prevailing consumer. Suits must be brought within one year. If a creditor violates the automatic stay or the Act while your case is open, tell your attorney right away, because those claims have short deadlines.
Is Chapter 13 worth it if my house has little equity?
It can be, especially if you are behind on the mortgage. Even with modest equity, Chapter 13 gives you time to cure arrears, stops foreclosure, and consolidates other debts into one payment. The alternative is often losing the home entirely.
Serving San Gabriel Valley Chapter 13 Clients and Surrounding Communities
Wadhwani & Shanfeld represents Chapter 13 clients throughout the San Gabriel Valley and the eastern end of Los Angeles County. That includes Pomona, Claremont, Glendora, West Covina, and Montclair, along with Chino and Chino Hills just across the county line in San Bernardino County. Clients from Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, and San Bernardino turn to the firm throughout the Inland Empire as well.
Further west and south, the firm works with homeowners and families across Los Angeles County, including Los Angeles, Hollywood, Inglewood, Compton, Torrance, Long Beach, Lakewood, Norwalk, Bellflower, Paramount, Gardena, Cerritos, and Huntington Park. In the San Fernando Valley, that coverage extends to Sherman Oaks, Encino, Woodland Hills, Van Nuys, Reseda, Northridge, Granada Hills, North Hollywood, and San Fernando, and out to Santa Clarita, Lancaster, Palmdale, and the Antelope Valley. Orange County clients are served in Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, and Mission Viejo, and Riverside County clients from Riverside to the Coachella Valley. Wherever you live, your case can be handled by phone, email, video, or chat.
Talk With a San Gabriel Valley Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Attorney Today
The cost of waiting in Chapter 13 is measured in missed cure windows, growing arrears, and sale dates that do not move. If you are behind on your mortgage, facing a garnishment, or have been served with a collection suit, call Wadhwani & Shanfeld for a free consultation and speak directly with an attorney. We will review your income, property, and debts, tell you honestly whether a San Gabriel Valley Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney is what your situation calls for, and lay out the options both inside and outside of bankruptcy, so you can decide with the facts in front of you.
