Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Georgia

When you hire a lawyer in a Chapter 13 you have paid that lawyer for all 36 or 60 months. Why have you not called your lawyer, who is REQUIRED to answer you? Never do an end around your lawyer. It would be highly unethical for anyone here, knowing you have a lawyer, to answer.

I agree that this is something that your lawyer needs to discuss with you. If you do not have a lawyer, the answer is that the settlement is probably your husband's asset and the trustee cannot touch it. However, if you were required to sign off on the settlement as his spouse (which is often the case so that you do not bring a loss of consortium claim) you would need to file a motion to compromise your own claims. In that case, the claim may have value to your creditors. Also, while settlement income is not taxable in most cases, a trustee could argue that it should be added to your household income in the chapter 13, allowing you to pay back more of your creditors. There are ways to handle this correctly, so you should find a lawyer if you don't have one and discuss it with them.