Chapter 13 discharge issues at plan completion under § 1328(a). This page covers what completion requires, what the discharge covers, and what to do if the discharge is challenged.
Plan completion requirements
To receive a § 1328(a) full discharge, the debtor must:
Complete all plan payments (the trustee verifies this)
Have certified that all postpetition domestic-support obligations are current (§ 1328(a)(1))
Complete the personal financial-management course (§ 1328(g))
Not have received a Chapter 7/11/12 discharge in the 4 years preceding the petition (§ 1328(f)(1))
Not have received a Chapter 13 discharge in the 2 years preceding the petition (§ 1328(f)(2))
The Chapter 13 discharge is broader than Chapter 7's. It discharges most debts provided for in the plan, including some debts that would not be discharged in Chapter 7:
Unsecured debts paid pro-rata under the plan, with the remainder discharged
Some § 523 categories that survive Chapter 7: limited subset (e.g., § 523(a)(7) governmental fines may be dischargeable in Ch.13)
Debts arising from breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, willful and malicious injury — these ARE excepted from § 1328(a) discharge under § 523(a)(2)/(4)/(6)
What's NOT discharged
Long-term debts maintained outside the plan (e.g., mortgage payments paid directly to lender)
Domestic-support obligations
Most student loans (§ 523(a)(8) still requires undue-hardship AP)
Certain taxes
Debts from death/personal injury caused by drunk driving
Restitution from criminal conviction
Hardship discharge under § 1328(b)
If the debtor cannot complete the plan, hardship discharge is available if all of:
The failure is due to circumstances for which the debtor should not justly be held accountable
Unsecured creditors received at least what they'd have received in Chapter 7
Modification of the plan is not practicable
The hardship discharge is narrower than the § 1328(a) full discharge: it does NOT discharge § 523(a) categories that the full discharge would have covered.
Post-completion procedure
Trustee files a notice of plan completion
Court issues the discharge order
Trustee files a final report and accounting
Case is closed
From plan completion to discharge order is typically 30-60 days; from discharge order to case closure is another 30-60 days.
Challenges to discharge
Even at completion, a creditor or trustee can object to discharge:
Failure to satisfy completion requirements (incomplete course, unfiled tax returns)
Specific § 523 grounds for excepting particular debts from discharge
§ 1328(e) revocation grounds (fraud in obtaining discharge)
Most plans complete without challenge. When challenges arise, they typically address specific debts rather than the discharge as a whole.