What Is a Proof of Claim in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?

A proof of claim in Chapter 13 bankruptcy is the official form a creditor files with the bankruptcy court to request payment through your repayment plan. Most creditors have 70 days from the date you file to submit one; government agencies get 180 days. Creditors who miss the deadline can be shut out of the plan entirely, and any remaining balance on debts that were provided for by the plan gets wiped out when you finish. For you as the debtor, what’s filed—and what’s filed incorrectly—directly controls how much you pay over the next three to five years.

What Goes on the Form

Every proof of claim uses Official Form 410, the standardized document approved by the Judicial Conference for all bankruptcy cases.¹ The creditor identifies you by full legal name and case number, then states the dollar amount owed as of the date you filed the petition. Not the current balance. A snapshot of the debt on that specific day.²

The creditor also states the basis for the debt (loan, goods sold, services provided) and checks a box classifying the claim as secured, priority unsecured, or general unsecured. Secured claims are backed by collateral like a house or car. Priority claims cover certain tax debts and domestic support obligations. General unsecured claims—credit cards, medical bills, personal loans—sit at the bottom of the payment ladder.

A bare form isn’t enough. The creditor has to attach evidence proving the debt exists: a copy of the loan contract, promissory note, or service agreement. For revolving accounts like credit cards, a transaction summary with the date of the last charge satisfies the requirement. If the original document is lost, a written explanation takes its place.² Secured claims carry an extra burden: the creditor must include proof the lien was properly recorded, such as a recorded mortgage, a certificate of title showing the lender’s name, or a UCC filing.

The 70-Day Deadline

Most creditors have 70 days from the date of your bankruptcy filing (technically the “order for relief”) to submit a proof of claim.³ That date is called the bar date, because it bars late filers from participating.

Government agencies—the IRS, state tax authorities, similar entities—get 180 days from the order for relief.³ For tax debts tied to a return filed under the special Chapter 13 provisions, the government has either 180 days from the order for relief or 60 days after the return is filed, whichever is longer. A government agency can ask the court to extend its deadline for good cause, but only if it files the motion before the 180 days expires.

Both dates appear on the Notice of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case the court sends to every known creditor after you file.

What Happens When a Creditor Misses the Deadline

A tardily filed claim can be disallowed if anyone objects to it.⁴ Chapter 13 has no equivalent to the Chapter 7 safety valve that lets some late filers share in leftover distributions. A late-filing creditor who draws an objection is out.

Narrow exceptions exist. Creditors who received the bar-date notice at a foreign address may ask for extra time if the notice didn’t give them a realistic window to respond.³ Most domestic creditors who miss the 70-day window have no remedy.

When You Might Want to File a Claim Yourself

Here’s a piece of Chapter 13 that surprises most people: you, the debtor, can file a proof of claim on behalf of a creditor who didn’t. If a creditor doesn’t file within the time allowed, you or the trustee have an additional 30 days after the bar date expires to file the claim for them.⁵ The court clerk then notifies the creditor that a claim was filed on their behalf.

Why would you help a creditor get paid? Because your goal is a clean discharge. If a secured creditor like your mortgage lender or car lender doesn’t file, those payments may not flow through the plan properly, leaving you with unresolved liens or arrearage balances after your case closes. Filing for a priority creditor like a tax authority ensures those non-dischargeable obligations get addressed inside the plan rather than waiting for you on the other side. A codebtor or guarantor who is jointly liable on the debt also has the right to file if the main creditor doesn’t.⁶

Mortgage Claims Deserve Extra Scrutiny

When a creditor holds a mortgage on your home, plain documentation isn’t enough. The creditor must also complete the Mortgage Proof of Claim Attachment (Official Form 410A), which demands granular detail: principal balance, interest owed, monthly escrow amount, any private mortgage insurance, prepetition fees, and the total arrearage as of the filing date. The form also asks for the interest calculation method.⁷

The most demanding section is the loan payment history. Starting from the first date you fell behind, the creditor has to log every transaction: payments received, amounts applied to principal, interest, escrow, and fees, along with running balances for each category. If you’re catching up on a mortgage through your plan, this is where you go looking for overcharges and math errors. Arrearage disputes are one of the most contested areas in Chapter 13, and Form 410A is where the evidence lives.

Checking and Objecting to a Claim

A properly filed proof of claim is treated as valid on its face. That presumption shifts the burden to whoever disagrees with it—usually you or the trustee—to prove the claim is wrong. Inflated claims go uncontested more often than they should, so the review is worth taking seriously.

To object, you file a written objection and serve it on the creditor at least 30 days before the scheduled hearing or the deadline for the creditor to request one.⁸ Service goes by mail to the address the creditor designated on the proof of claim. Federal agency claims carry additional service requirements.

Common grounds for objecting to a claim:

The debt is barred by the statute of limitations or is otherwise unenforceable.
The amount is wrong—inflated balance, miscalculated interest, or unauthorized fees.
The creditor claims secured status but can’t show a properly perfected lien.
The same debt was claimed more than once.
The claim was filed after the bar date.

When many claims share the same defect, the trustee can bundle challenges into a single omnibus objection, capped at 100 claims per filing.⁸

How Filed Claims Turn Into Payments

Once the court confirms your repayment plan, the Chapter 13 trustee collects your monthly payments and distributes them to creditors holding allowed claims. A claim reaches allowed status automatically once it’s filed, unless someone objects, in which case the court decides the amount after a hearing.⁴

The payment hierarchy matters. Secured creditors get paid first, up to the value of their collateral. If a creditor is owed $15,000 on a car loan but the car is worth $10,000, only $10,000 is treated as secured; the remaining $5,000 becomes an unsecured claim.⁹ Priority unsecured claims (tax debts, domestic support obligations) come next and must be paid in full. General unsecured creditors split whatever remains, receiving a pro-rata share based on the size of their claims relative to the total unsecured pool.

Your plan lasts three or five years, depending on your household income compared to the state median. Below-median income means a three-year maximum, though the court can approve up to five years for cause. At or above the median, the plan runs five years.¹⁰ When you complete all payments, the court grants a discharge that eliminates the remaining balances on debts provided for by the plan, along with any debts that were disallowed during the case.¹¹ Some debts survive the discharge—long-term obligations like ongoing mortgage payments, student loans, and criminal restitution—but for general unsecured creditors who filed claims and received partial payment, the remaining balance is gone.

1
United States Courts. Proof of Claim
2
Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 3001 – Proof of Claim
3
Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 3002 – Filing Proof of Claim or Interest
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 502 – Allowance of Claims or Interests
5
Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 3004 – Proof of Claim Filed by the Debtor or Trustee for a Creditor
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 501 – Filing of Proofs of Claims or Interests
7
United States Courts. Mortgage Proof of Claim Attachment
8
Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 3007 – Objecting to a Claim
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 506 – Determination of Secured Status
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1322 – Contents of Plan
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge