Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Lancaster County, PA

Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings for Lancaster County residents are handled by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Chapter 13 is a 3–5 year repayment plan that stops foreclosure, lets you cure mortgage arrears, and pays priority taxes over time while discharging remaining unsecured debt at the end.

Chapter 13 is the right choice when you're behind on a mortgage, have non-dischargeable tax debt, have too much equity for Chapter 7, or earn too much to pass the Chapter 7 means test. Your plan payment is built from disposable income plus any arrears, priority taxes, and secured catch-up.

For Lancaster County clients specifically, we run the Pennsylvania means test using current state median income figures, file electronically with the Eastern District clerk, and the automatic stay stops every Lancaster County creditor the moment the case is filed.

Lancaster County sits in South Central Pennsylvania, with Lancaster as the county seat, and its cases are administered by the Reading Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The local economy is led by Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, Penn State Health, Armstrong Flooring, High Industries, and the largest Plain-community agricultural economy in the country. That shows up directly on the debt schedules I prepare here — a typical Lancaster County filing includes Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, Fulton Bank, and Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas credit-card judgments.

Lancaster County is in the Eastern District of PA, so cases are filed in the Reading Division at the Gateway Building, 201 Penn Street in Reading — not in Philadelphia or Harrisburg, a fact many local filers and even some attorneys get wrong. The pressure that most often pushes Lancaster County households into a Chapter 13 case is medical debt from LG Health and credit-card lawsuits in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.

In a Lancaster County Chapter 13 we build the plan around the arrears that actually exist here — mortgage catch-up on Lancaster County property, sheriff sales scheduled at the Lancaster County Courthouse in Lancaster, county and school-district property taxes, and PA Department of Revenue claims.

Lancaster County bankruptcy petitions are filed in the Reading Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Filing location:
The Gateway Building
201 Penn Street, Suite 103
Reading, PA 19601
Clerk's office: (610) 208-5040

341 meeting of creditors: Held virtually by the Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 trustee assigned to your case — Lancaster County filers almost never appear in person at Reading.

The drive from Lancaster to Reading is rarely necessary — petitions are filed electronically and the 341 meeting of creditors is held by video.