How to Fill Out the Chapter 13 Confirmation Form (Official Form 113)

Official Form 113 is the national Chapter 13 Plan form, and filling it out means working through nine parts in order, entering a monthly payment and plan length that match your means-test figures, and spelling out exactly how each secured, priority, and unsecured creditor will be paid. This guide walks through how to fill out Chapter 13 Plan Form 113 from the records you need to gather first through the signature block, and covers the filing deadlines and early-payment rule that trip up most people doing this themselves.

What to Gather Before You Open the Form

Every number on Form 113 traces back to a document. Pulling those documents first saves you from guessing.

You cannot file a Chapter 13 petition at all without a credit counseling briefing from an approved nonprofit agency completed within 180 days before filing.¹ The briefing runs by phone or online and takes about an hour. Let 180 days pass and you have to retake it. Courts grant temporary waivers only for exigent circumstances, and even then counseling must happen within 30 days of filing.

For the financial side, you need federal and state tax returns from the most recent year and pay stubs covering the last 60 days.² Tax returns for the previous four years must also be on file with the taxing authorities, or the court cannot confirm your plan.³

Then pull current bank statements, mortgage or lease agreements, vehicle loan statements, credit card balances, medical bills, and any domestic support orders. Value every piece of non-exempt property you own, because the plan has to pay unsecured creditors at least what a Chapter 7 trustee could get for them in liquidation. Finally, write out your monthly living expenses in detail. Certain categories on the means test use fixed IRS National Standards — food, housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care, and a miscellaneous category — and you can claim those amounts without receipts.⁴ Anything above a standard requires documentation; the miscellaneous category allows no deviation.

Getting the Right Version of the Form

Download Official Form 113, “Chapter 13 Plan,” as a fillable PDF from the U.S. Courts bankruptcy forms page.⁵ The current designation is Form 113, sometimes written B 113 under the older numbering.⁶

Before you fill in a single field, check whether your local bankruptcy court uses a local plan form or requires supplemental provisions. Many do. The national form itself warns that some of its printed options may not be permissible in every judicial district, so a local form overrides the national template where one exists.

Filling Out the Nine Parts

Enter your case number and full legal name at the top of the form. The nine parts follow in order. Work through every one, even if your answer is that the part does not apply.

Part 1: Notices

Pre-printed language telling creditors that any objection must be filed at least seven days before the confirmation hearing.⁶ You enter nothing here. Read it so you know the objection deadline yourself.

Part 2: Plan Payments and Length

Enter the dollar amount of your monthly payment to the trustee and the number of months the plan will run. Plan length depends on your current monthly income relative to your state’s median. Below the median, the minimum commitment is 36 months, and you can propose a longer term to lower the monthly figure. Above the median, the plan generally has to run 60 months.² No plan may exceed 60 months.

Your monthly payment should reflect disposable income from Form 122C-2, the Chapter 13 Means Test Calculation. Remember that the trustee takes a percentage fee off the top (capped at 10 percent by statute), so build that into the figure.⁷ If you specify fewer than 60 months, the form’s default language keeps payments going as needed to complete payments to creditors specified elsewhere in the plan.

Part 3: Treatment of Secured Claims

List each secured creditor and describe exactly how the plan will handle the claim. For a home mortgage, the typical approach is to maintain regular payments and cure any arrearage over the life of the plan. The plan cannot modify the rights of a lender whose only collateral is your principal residence.⁸

For other secured debts, you may be able to reduce the principal to the collateral’s current value, a strategy called cramdown. A boundary to watch: for a vehicle you purchased within 910 days before filing, cramdown is blocked.⁹ The restriction covers purchase-money loans for personal-use vehicles. A car you already owned and later pledged as collateral for a different loan does not fall under the 910-day rule.

Part 4: Fees and Priority Claims

Priority claims have to be paid in full through the plan.⁸ That means trustee fees, attorney fees, priority tax debts, and domestic support obligations. Enter each priority creditor and the amount owed.

Part 5: Nonpriority Unsecured Claims

Credit card balances, medical debt, and personal loans go here. These creditors split whatever is left after secured claims, priority claims, and trustee fees are paid. The plan must give them at least what they would have received in a Chapter 7 liquidation of your non-exempt assets, which is why you needed those property valuations.⁹ Enter the estimated percentage these creditors will receive.

Part 6: Executory Contracts and Unexpired Leases

Indicate which contracts and leases the plan assumes and which it rejects. An apartment lease you want to keep goes in the assumption column.

Part 7: Vesting of Property of the Estate

Checkboxes let you pick when property of the bankruptcy estate vests back in you: at plan confirmation, at entry of discharge, or on a custom event you specify.

Part 8: Nonstandard Provisions

Any provision that departs from the form’s standard language must go here. The form is explicit: nonstandard language placed anywhere else in the plan is ineffective. If you need a custom provision, write it in Part 8 or it will not count.

Part 9: Signature

Sign and date. If you are filing without an attorney, your signature also certifies that the wording and order of the provisions match the official form, with the only variations appearing in Part 8.⁶

Filing the Plan, Paying the Fee, and Serving Creditors

You may file the plan with the petition. If you do not, you have 15 days to file it. Extensions require a showing of cause and court permission, and missing the deadline without an extension is grounds for dismissal.¹⁰

The Chapter 13 filing fee is $313, made up of a $235 case filing fee and a $78 administrative fee.²¹¹ You can ask to pay in installments, but the full fee has to be paid before confirmation.

Attorneys file through the court’s CM/ECF system.¹² Pro se filers typically bring paper copies to the clerk’s window. Court employees cannot give you legal advice on how to complete the form, and pro se filers are held to the same procedural rules as attorneys.¹³

After filing, send copies of the plan to the court-appointed trustee and every creditor listed in it, then file a proof of service with the court showing you did it.

Start Paying Within 30 Days

This is the deadline that catches most filers. You have to begin making the proposed monthly payments to the trustee within 30 days of filing the plan or the order for relief, whichever comes first.¹⁴ Do not wait for the confirmation hearing. The trustee holds early payments and distributes them once the plan is confirmed. If the plan is not confirmed, undistributed amounts come back to you, less administrative costs.

What the Form Has to Satisfy at Confirmation

Your numbers are not just for the trustee. They have to satisfy the standards in 11 U.S.C. § 1325, and knowing those standards while you fill out the form keeps you from proposing something that cannot pass.

The plan was proposed in good faith.
You can realistically make every payment the plan proposes.
Unsecured creditors get at least what they would receive in a Chapter 7 liquidation.
Each secured creditor has accepted the plan, is paid the full allowed amount of the claim, or receives the collateral back.
Priority claims are paid in full.
All required federal, state, and local tax returns have been filed.
Any post-petition domestic support obligations are current.

Creditors and the trustee can object before the hearing; creditors must file any objection at least seven days in advance.⁹ Common objections include failing to commit all disposable income, undervaluing assets, or underpaying secured debts.

If the Plan Is Not Confirmed

Denial of confirmation does not end the case. The court will usually let you file a modified plan addressing the deficiencies the judge identified. Amend the form, re-serve creditors, and go back for another confirmation hearing. If modification fails or you choose not to try again, the case faces dismissal or conversion. You have an unwaivable right to dismiss your own case and an absolute right to convert to Chapter 7 at any time.¹⁵ Conversion to Chapter 7 exposes your non-exempt assets to liquidation, which is a very different result from the structured repayment Chapter 13 provides.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
2
United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics
3
Internal Revenue Service. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy – Voluntary Reorganization of Debt for Individuals
4
Internal Revenue Service. National Standards: Food, Clothing and Other Items
5
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Forms
6
United States Courts. Official Form 113 Chapter 13 Plan
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 586 – Duties; Supervision by Attorney General
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 1322 – Contents of Plan
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 1325 – Confirmation of Plan
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Rule 3015
11
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule
12
United States Courts. Electronic Filing (CM/ECF)
13
United States Courts. Filing Without an Attorney
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 1326 – Payments
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 1307 – Conversion or Dismissal