§1229 Modification of Plan After Confirmation

Summary

Allows a confirmed repayment plan to be changed after it’s approved but before all payments finish. The debtor, the trustee, or a creditor with an allowed unsecured claim can ask to change payment amounts for a class, change how long payments take, adjust what a creditor gets if they were paid outside the plan, or add a claim that arose after the case was filed that is covered by section 1232(a). The rules in sections 1222(a), 1222(b), 1223(c), and 1225(a) apply to any change. The changed plan becomes the plan unless a court rejects it after notice and a hearing. Payments normally cannot be scheduled for more than three years after the first payment was due, except the court can extend for cause but never past five years. A change cannot raise payments already due. Only the debtor can raise payments because they have more money left after necessary expenses, or in the plan’s last year force payments that would leave a farmer without enough funds to continue farming after the plan ends.