How much is my Chapter 13 payment going to be? I’ve answered that question in a couple of different ways, in a couple of different videos, but there’s a third consideration that we have to address and that is, do you have priority claims against you?

Priority claims are going to need to be paid in full over the life of your Chapter 13 plan. The most common priority claim that you’re going to see in your Chapter 13 case will be taxes that you haven’t paid that are due for the last, usually 3 years before you filed your case. Those have to be paid in full at the statutory interest rate, right now that’s about 6 percent, although that could change over the life of your plan.

So, that means if you don’t have to pay anything else, if your net disposal income is zero based upon the different formula that I’ve discussed in other videos, and if you have no equity in your property, if you want to pay these taxes off because the IRS isn’t playing ball with you, then you’re going to have to able to do that over 36 to 60 months depending upon your income.

Another priority debt is frequently if you have an unpaid domestic support obligation. That is also entitled to priority status. That’s also going to need to be paid in full in your Chapter 13 case.