How Does Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Work in Ohio?

Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Ohio is a court-supervised repayment plan that lets you keep your home, car, and other property while paying creditors through a single monthly payment to a trustee over three to five years. You file in one of Ohio’s two federal bankruptcy districts, and the moment the petition is docketed, an automatic stay stops foreclosures, repossessions, wage garnishments, and most other collection activity. When you finish the plan, the court discharges most of what you still owe.

Who Can File

Chapter 13 is only for individuals with regular income. Corporations, partnerships, and LLCs cannot use it, though sole proprietors can because the law treats them as individuals.¹ Regular income does not have to mean a traditional paycheck. Self-employment earnings, Social Security, a pension, and steady gig work can all qualify as long as the income is reliable enough to fund the plan.

Your total debts also have to fit within federal limits. As of April 1, 2025, you cannot owe more than $1,580,125 in secured debt or $526,700 in unsecured debt.² These numbers adjust every three years, so confirm them before you file.

Before filing, you must complete a credit counseling course through an agency approved by the U.S. Trustee Program. The course has to be taken within 180 days before your filing date, and the certificate of completion is filed with your petition.¹ Most approved agencies offer it online for a modest fee.

The Automatic Stay

The automatic stay takes effect the instant the petition is filed. It halts foreclosure, vehicle repossession, wage garnishment, lawsuits, and collection calls and letters.³ If a creditor ignores it, the bankruptcy court can impose sanctions and award damages. The stay generally lasts until the case is closed, dismissed, or discharge is granted or denied, though a creditor can ask the judge to lift it for cause, such as missed post-filing mortgage payments.

Repeat filers get less protection. If a bankruptcy case was dismissed in the prior year, the stay in the new case expires after 30 days unless the court extends it. If two or more cases were dismissed in the prior year, no stay takes effect at all unless the court orders one.³

Where and How You File in Ohio

Ohio has two federal bankruptcy districts. The Northern District covers the upper part of the state, including Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Toledo, and Youngstown. The Southern District covers the rest, including Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton. You file in the district where you live.

The petition is a package of federal forms. The core documents are the Voluntary Petition (Form 101) and the Statement of Financial Affairs (Form 107), plus a set of schedules:

Schedule A/B lists all property you own or have an interest in.
Schedule C lists the exemptions you are claiming.
Schedule D lists creditors with secured claims.
Schedule E/F lists creditors with priority and unsecured claims.
Schedule I shows your current income.
Schedule J shows your current expenses.

You also file a proposed repayment plan and the means test calculation (Form 122C), along with recent pay stubs, bank statements, and tax returns. The filing fee is $313, broken down into a $235 filing fee and a $78 administrative fee.⁴ If you cannot pay it upfront, you can apply to pay in installments.⁵

How Long the Plan Lasts and What You Pay

Plan length depends on how your income compares to Ohio’s median. The means test uses your average monthly income over the six months before filing. For cases filed between November 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026, the Ohio medians are:⁶

One earner: $64,541
Two-person household: $81,578
Three-person household: $99,876
Four-person household: $120,531
Each additional person: add $11,100

Below-median filers can propose a three-year plan. Above-median filers must commit to five years. No Chapter 13 plan can run longer than five years.¹

Your monthly payment has two sides. The required side covers priority debts such as recent taxes and child support arrears, mortgage arrears you are curing, and the value of secured claims. The affordability side is your disposable income: current monthly income minus standardized living expenses drawn from IRS and Census Bureau figures.⁷ Whatever is left is what unsecured creditors receive each month. Above-median filers commit all projected disposable income for the full five years.¹ Unsecured creditors often receive only a fraction of what they are owed, and the balance is discharged when the plan ends.

Plan payments carry a trustee fee. Federal law caps it at 10 percent of the payments running through the plan.⁸ The fee is built into the total payment, so your monthly outlay is higher than the amount reaching creditors. Attorney fees in Ohio Chapter 13 cases are typically paid through the plan as well, with each district setting a presumptively reasonable amount.

Ohio Exemptions and the Best Interests Test

Even though you keep your property in Chapter 13, Ohio’s exemptions still matter. The “best interests of creditors” test requires your unsecured creditors to receive at least as much through the plan as they would have gotten if your non-exempt assets had been liquidated in Chapter 7. Higher exemptions mean lower theoretical liquidation value, which can lower the floor on what you have to pay.

Ohio’s exemption amounts were updated effective April 1, 2025, and remain in effect through March 31, 2028:⁹

Homestead: up to $182,625 of equity in your primary residence
Motor vehicle: up to $5,025 of equity in one vehicle
Household goods: up to $800 per item and $16,850 total
Jewelry: up to $2,125
Tools of your trade: up to $3,200
Cash on hand: up to $625
Wild card: up to $1,675 in any property

The wild card can be stacked on top of another exemption to cover a gap, such as equity in a vehicle that exceeds the motor vehicle amount.¹⁰

Saving a Home or Vehicle

Curing a delinquent mortgage is one of the main reasons people file Chapter 13 in Ohio. The plan lets you pay off the arrears over three to five years while staying current on the regular monthly mortgage going forward. As long as you keep up both, the lender cannot foreclose.

Vehicle loans are treated differently depending on when you bought the car. If you purchased it more than 910 days (about two and a half years) before filing, the court can reduce the secured portion of the loan to the vehicle’s current market value through a “cramdown.” The remaining balance becomes unsecured debt and is paid at whatever percentage unsecured creditors receive under the plan.¹¹ If you bought the car within the last 910 days, the full loan balance must be paid through the plan, though a lower interest rate may still be available.

The 341 Meeting, Confirmation, and First Payment

After filing, the court assigns a Chapter 13 trustee who reviews your documents, administers your payments, and distributes money to creditors. Within a few weeks, the trustee schedules a Meeting of Creditors, known as the 341 meeting.¹² No judge attends. You answer questions under oath from the trustee about your income, expenses, assets, and petition. Creditors may attend, but most do not. The meeting typically runs 10 to 15 minutes when the paperwork is in order.

Next comes the confirmation hearing before a bankruptcy judge. The judge checks that the plan meets the best interests of creditors test, that it was proposed in good faith, that you can afford the payments, and that all priority claims are paid in full.¹¹

You must start making plan payments within 30 days of filing, even if the plan has not yet been confirmed. The trustee holds those pre-confirmation payments and distributes them once the plan is approved.¹³ Missing those early payments is one of the most common reasons cases are dismissed before confirmation.

Living Under the Plan

The plan comes with ongoing rules. You generally cannot take on new debt without permission from the court or trustee. That restriction covers car loans, credit cards, personal loans, student loans, rent-to-own contracts, and even borrowing against a retirement account. The narrow exception is a genuine emergency involving life, health, or property. Borrowing without approval can get the case dismissed.

Selling property also requires court approval. You file a motion identifying the asset, the buyer, the price, and the proposed closing date, and the judge must sign off before the sale closes.

Income changes have to be reported. Trustees typically review tax returns each year, and a substantial raise or bonus can prompt the trustee or a creditor to ask the court to increase payments. If you lose your job or your hours are cut, you can ask the court to lower payments or extend the plan. Federal law expressly allows the debtor, trustee, or an unsecured creditor to seek post-confirmation modifications to payment amounts, plan length, or distributions.¹⁴ The modified plan still has to meet the original confirmation standards, and total duration cannot exceed five years from when the first payment was due.

If the Plan Fails

If you can no longer make payments, you have two options: convert to Chapter 7 or dismiss the case. Federal law gives you an absolute right to either at any time.¹⁵ Conversion makes sense when income has dropped permanently; a new Chapter 7 trustee is assigned and another 341 meeting is held, but Chapter 7 can liquidate non-exempt assets, so property that was protected under Chapter 13 may now be at risk. You cannot convert if you received a Chapter 7 discharge in the past eight years. Dismissal ends the case without a discharge, debts remain, and collection can resume; the stay limitations on repeat filers described earlier will apply if you refile.

The court can also force conversion or dismissal. Common grounds include falling behind on plan payments, failing to file required documents, failing to pay court fees, and defaulting on post-filing domestic support obligations.¹⁵

Discharge

When you complete all plan payments, the court enters a discharge. Before it issues, you have to complete a financial management course taken after the case was filed, separate from the pre-filing credit counseling course.¹⁶ Joint filers each take the course and each file a certificate.

The Chapter 13 discharge is broader than Chapter 7, but several categories of debt survive it:¹⁶

Domestic support obligations, including child support and alimony
Certain tax debts, including recent income taxes and taxes tied to a fraudulent return
Student loans, unless undue hardship is shown in a separate proceeding
Criminal fines and restitution, including DUI-related injury claims
Debts for fraud or willful injury
Long-term obligations such as ongoing mortgage payments that were maintained rather than cured through the plan

The filing can appear on your credit report for up to 10 years from the filing date.¹⁷

1
United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
4
United States Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Ohio. Filing Fees
5
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1006 – Filing Fee
6
United States Department of Justice. Median Family Income Table (November 2025)
7
United States Department of Justice. Means Testing
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 586 – Duties; Supervision by Attorney General
9
United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Ohio. April 1, 2025, Ohio Exemption Increases
10
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2329.66 – Exempted Interests and Rights
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1325 – Confirmation of Plan
12
United States Department of Justice. Section 341 Meeting of Creditors
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1326 – Payments
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1329 – Modification of Plan After Confirmation
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1307 – Conversion or Dismissal
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge
17
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports