If you have filed for bankruptcy in New York — or you are about to — the phrase proof of claim will turn up in the paperwork within weeks. It is the form a creditor files to tell the bankruptcy court how much it says you owe. Most people skim past it. That is a mistake, because in a Chapter 13 case the claims filed against you are what your monthly plan payment is built on, and nobody at the court checks them for accuracy.
Here is how proofs of claim actually work, when they are due, and where you have real leverage to push back.
What a Proof of Claim Is
A proof of claim is a standardized form — Official Form 410 — that a creditor files with the bankruptcy court to assert a right to payment from the bankruptcy estate. It identifies the creditor, the case, the amount owed as of the filing date, whether the debt is secured, and what documents support it.
Two features of the system matter more than the form itself. First, a filed claim is deemed allowed unless somebody objects to it. That is the rule in 11 U.S.C. § 502(a). No clerk audits the math. Second, in Chapter 13 the allowed claims control how the money you send the trustee gets divided — and in some cases how much you have to send at all.
Who Files One, and in Which Chapter
Chapter 7, Chapter 12, and Chapter 13
Under Bankruptcy Rule 3002(a), a creditor generally must file a proof of claim for that claim to be allowed. This applies to secured and unsecured creditors alike. There is an important limit, though: a creditor that never files does not lose its lien. The rule states directly that a lien securing a claim is not void solely because nobody filed a proof of claim. A mortgage company that sits out the claims process still holds the mortgage on your house.
Chapter 11 is governed by a different rule
Chapter 11 runs under Rule 3003 instead, and the court sets its own bar date. A creditor whose debt is scheduled correctly and is not listed as disputed, contingent, or unliquidated may not need to file anything.
The no-asset Chapter 7 exception
Most consumer Chapter 7 cases in New York are no-asset cases, meaning there is no non-exempt property for the trustee to sell. In those cases the initial notice tells creditors not to file a proof of claim. If the trustee later locates assets worth administering, the court issues a fresh notice and sets a deadline at that point.
The Filing Deadlines
Seventy days in most consumer cases
In a voluntary Chapter 7, Chapter 12, or Chapter 13 case, a proof of claim is timely if it is filed within 70 days after the order for relief. In a voluntary case, the petition itself is the order for relief, so the clock starts on the filing date. If a case is converted to Chapter 12 or 13, the 70 days runs from the conversion order. In an involuntary Chapter 7 case, the period is 90 days after the order for relief is entered. The full text is in Bankruptcy Rule 3002.
Government creditors get longer
A governmental unit — the IRS, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, a city agency — has 180 days after the order for relief. If the claim arises from a tax return filed during a Chapter 13 case under § 1308, the deadline is 180 days after the order for relief or 60 days after that return is filed, whichever is later.
Claims secured by your home
A claim secured by a security interest in your principal residence gets a split deadline: the claim itself has to be filed within the ordinary window, but the supporting mortgage documents may be filed as a supplement within 120 days after the order for relief.
Late claims are not always dead
The bar date has exceptions. The court can extend it where a creditor did not receive adequate notice of the deadline — one of several reasons the creditor list you file with your petition needs to be complete and accurate from day one.
Why Claims Matter to You, Not Just Your Creditors
In Chapter 13, claims drive the money
In a Chapter 13 repayment plan, priority claims such as recent income taxes and domestic support obligations generally have to be paid in full over the life of the plan. General unsecured claims usually receive whatever is left. So a $9,000 claim filed as a priority tax debt and a $9,000 credit card claim have completely different effects on your monthly payment.
When a taxing authority files an inflated claim based on an estimated return, or a servicer files arrears that include charges you already paid, your plan payment goes up for no legitimate reason — unless someone reviews the claim and challenges it. It is worth understanding how priority and non-priority debts are treated differently before you look at your own claims register.
You can file a claim for a creditor who does not
This one surprises people. Under Bankruptcy Rule 3004, if a creditor fails to file a proof of claim within its deadline, the debtor or the trustee may file one on that creditor’s behalf within 30 days after the deadline expires.
Why would you volunteer to pay someone who could not be bothered to ask? Because some debts survive your case. If you owe recent income taxes or support arrears that a five-year plan could have retired, and the creditor never files, that balance is still waiting for you when the case closes, often with interest that kept running. Filing the claim yourself directs plan money toward it instead.
Secured, Priority, and General Unsecured Claims
The form asks the creditor to classify its claim, and the classification controls how it gets paid.
- Secured claims are backed by collateral — a mortgage on a house, a lien on a car. The creditor looks first to the property.
- Priority unsecured claims come ahead of everything else in the unsecured line: certain taxes, domestic support obligations, and some employee wages, among others.
- General unsecured claims — credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, deficiency balances after a repossession — are paid last, from whatever remains.
Misclassification is common. A claim gets marked secured when the lien was never perfected, or priority when the tax year is old enough that it no longer qualifies. Those are correctable, but only if someone catches them.
Objecting to a Claim
Grounds that come up regularly
- The amount is wrong, or includes fees, costs, or interest that were never owed
- The debt was already paid, settled, or discharged in an earlier case
- The claimant cannot show it owns the debt — frequent with purchased credit card portfolios, where the chain of assignment and the account documents required by Rule 3001(c) are missing
- The claim is classified as secured or priority when it does not qualify
- The limitations period on the underlying debt has expired
- The claim was filed after the bar date
Time-barred debt in New York
New York shortened the limitations period for actions arising out of consumer credit transactions to three years under CPLR § 214-i, effective April 7, 2022. The same section provides that once the period expires, a later payment or a written or oral acknowledgment of the debt does not revive or extend it.
Old credit card debt still lands on claims registers routinely. A stale claim is not disallowed automatically — someone has to object — but the limitations defense is a legitimate basis for one. Whether it applies to a specific account turns on when the default occurred and what type of debt it is, which is a question to work through with your attorney rather than from a statement date alone.
How an objection proceeds
An objection is filed in writing with the court and served on the claimant, with at least 30 days’ notice of the hearing under Rule 3007. The claimant may respond. The judge then allows the claim, disallows it, or allows it in a reduced amount. Many objections never reach a contested hearing — the claimant amends or withdraws, or the parties stipulate to a corrected figure. In Chapter 13 the debtor’s attorney is often the one filing, because the debtor is the party whose payment is affected.
What Happens After the Bar Date
Once the deadline passes, the claims register is effectively the roster of who gets paid. In Chapter 13, the trustee disburses under the confirmed plan as payments come in. In a Chapter 7 asset case, the trustee files a final report proposing distributions, and creditors and the debtor receive notice and an opportunity to object before money moves. You can read more about what the trustee is actually responsible for in a consumer case.
Distribution follows the statutory order: secured creditors look to their collateral, then administrative expenses and other priority claims are paid, then general unsecured claims share whatever is left, pro rata. In many cases general unsecured creditors recover a small fraction of what they claimed. In a no-asset Chapter 7 they recover nothing.
One footnote worth knowing: if every allowed claim is somehow paid in full with interest and money remains, the surplus goes back to the debtor. It is rare, but it happens.
Keep an Eye on the Docket
Claims are filed, amended, transferred between debt buyers, and withdrawn throughout a case. A claim that looked fine in month two can be amended upward in month nine. Your attorney should be comparing the claims register against the schedules you filed and against your own records — not just at the bar date, but as the case moves.
Questions About a Claim Filed in Your Case?
If a claim in your case looks too high, comes from a company you do not recognize, or is pushing your Chapter 13 payment beyond what you can manage, it is worth having someone read the claims register with you. Get in touch to arrange a consultation and we can go through it.
Law Office of William Waldner — 469 Seventh Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10018 Call 212-244-2882 to schedule your free, confidential 20-minute consultation. We handle bankruptcy cases exclusively, in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
