How do you describe someone who is actively going through Chapter 13?

September 6, 2013 7:20 AM

I need to technically describe someone that has filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The person's plan has been accepted, but the case has not been closed. How do I describe this?

Is it that the person is "currently in Chapter 13 bankruptcy"?
Or "currently going through Chapter 13 bankruptcy"?
Or "currently under Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection"?
Or something else?

This is for a public written communication (think blog post) where I'm describing this person. It is important to disclose that the person is under Chapter 13 plan. The person in question has inserted himself in the public sphere as a financial expert, so I'm not concerned about disclosing the Chapter 13 plan to the same public sphere.

I know there's a most efficient way to describe his bankruptcy, but I don't know what it is. More than anything, I want the description to be accurate. However, the description needs to be understood by the general public.

posted by foggy out there now to Law & Government (4 answers total)

I'm not a lawyer, but one way might be to echo what people say themselves. I tried googling "currently in chapter 13 bankruptcy" in quotes to see if that would give me results that tacked anything onto the end of it, but it seems that phrasing is used a lot by itself.

Here are a few variations. It seems to be the norm to say you are "in" it.


Here on a legal Q&A site, most of the attorneys are just saying Chapter 13 for shorthand, but bankruptcy attorney Derek Caldwell at the bottom says "Certainly you can have a mortgage modified while in Ch13."
posted by Askr at 7:57 AM on September 6, 2013

Yes, "in" is the operative preposition here.
posted by Ironmouth at 8:04 AM on September 6, 2013

Along similar lines to Askr's response I work in mortgage modification and we call it "in chapter 13" versus "has a dismissed chapter 13."
posted by celtalitha at 8:05 AM on September 6, 2013

"In" or "going through" is the way I usually hear it said by my SO, who is a bankruptcy attorney.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:05 AM on September 6, 2013