United States Code
11 U.S.C. § 1323 — Modification of plan before confirmation
Section 1323 lets a Chapter 13 debtor change the repayment plan at any point before the court confirms it. Subsection (a) sets the one stated limit: the plan as modified must still meet the requirements of section 1322. Subsection (b) makes the modified version the operative plan once it is filed. Subsection (c) carries a secured creditor's earlier acceptance or rejection over to the modified plan unless the modification changes that creditor's rights.
A Chapter 13 plan is rarely right the first time. Income changes, a creditor objects, the trustee raises a problem, or a number in the first filing turns out to be wrong — and all of that often happens before the confirmation hearing. This section is the provision that addresses changing the plan during that window.
Can a Chapter 13 plan be changed before the court confirms it?
Yes. Subsection (a) provides that the debtor may modify the plan at any time before confirmation. The text places no cap on how many times a modification may be filed and sets no deadline earlier than confirmation itself — the window described runs up to that point. Note what the subsection is about: it addresses the period before the court confirms the plan. Modification after a plan has already been confirmed is a different situation, and this section does not speak to it. Subsection (a) also speaks only of the debtor. It is the debtor's authority to modify that the section describes; the text does not extend that authority to anyone else, and it does not say anything about the trustee's or a creditor's ability to propose changes. If you are trying to work out whether a change you have in mind falls under this section, the two questions the text asks are whether confirmation has happened yet and whether the change comes from the debtor.
What limits apply to modifying the plan before confirmation?
Subsection (a) gives the debtor broad freedom to modify, then attaches one express restriction: the debtor may not modify the plan so that the plan as modified fails to meet the requirements of section 1322. Section 1322 is the provision that sets out what a Chapter 13 plan must and may contain. So the effect of subsection (a) is that a modification cannot be used as a way around those requirements — whatever the plan had to satisfy before, the modified version still has to satisfy. This is a content limit, not a procedural one. The subsection does not describe notice, hearings, objections, or the standards a court applies at confirmation; those are handled elsewhere and are not part of the text of this section. Read on its own, subsection (a) answers a narrow question: the debtor may change the plan, and the changed plan must still be one that section 1322 permits.
Does a modified plan replace the original plan?
Subsection (b) states it directly: after the debtor files a modification under this section, the plan as modified becomes the plan. There is only ever one plan in front of the court. Filing a modification does not create a second, competing document or an amendment sitting alongside the original — the modified version takes the original's place as the plan going forward. This matters for how you read everything else in a Chapter 13 case. When another provision, an objection, a trustee's recommendation, or a confirmation order refers to "the plan," it is referring to the plan as most recently modified. It also means the modification is operative on filing under this subsection's terms; the text does not condition that substitution on a court order, a creditor's agreement, or a hearing. If you are reviewing your own case file, the practical takeaway is that the most recent modification is the document that governs.
What happens to a secured creditor that already accepted or rejected the plan?
Subsection (c) handles the situation where a secured claim holder has already taken a position on the plan and the plan then changes. The default is carry-over: a holder of a secured claim that has accepted or rejected the plan is deemed to have accepted or rejected the plan as modified, as the case may be. The creditor does not have to vote again, and its earlier position is not wiped out by the modification. That default gives way only when two things line up. First, the modification must provide for a change in the rights of that holder from what those rights were under the plan before the modification. Second, the holder must actually change its previous acceptance or rejection. If the modification leaves the holder's rights as they were, the earlier position stands. If the modification alters those rights but the holder does not change its position, the earlier position also stands. The subsection is written around the holder's own rights, not around the modification generally.
Why would someone need to modify a plan before confirmation?
The statutory text does not list reasons, and this section does not require the debtor to give one — subsection (a) simply permits modification at any time before confirmation. What the section does tell you is what a modification has to survive. Any change has to leave a plan that still meets the requirements of section 1322, so a modification is not a way to drop a term the plan was required to include. And because subsection (b) makes the modified plan the plan, the change is not a proposal sitting next to the original; it becomes the document the case runs on. Subsection (c) is the piece that most affects other parties, and it is worth reading closely if a secured creditor has already accepted or rejected the plan and the modification touches that creditor's rights. Courts apply these provisions on the facts of a specific case, and how a particular modification is treated depends on those facts. If a change to your plan is being discussed, the subsections above are the ones to read for yourself.
This summary is our plain-English explanation, written to help you find the right part of the text below. The section itself is the authority — where the two differ, the text controls.
Text of 11 U.S.C. § 1323
Reproduced in full from the official source, verified as of July 2026. View it at the source.
(a) The debtor may modify the plan at any time before confirmation, but may not modify the plan so that the plan as modified fails to meet the requirements of section 1322 of this title.
(b) After the debtor files a modification under this section, the plan as modified becomes the plan.
(c) Any holder of a secured claim that has accepted or rejected the plan is deemed to have accepted or rejected, as the case may be, the plan as modified, unless the modification provides for a change in the rights of such holder from what such rights were under the plan before modification, and such holder changes such holder's previous acceptance or rejection.
(Pub. L. 95–598, Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2649.)
Notes and amendment history
Published by the official source alongside the section above. These notes record how the text has changed over time and the reasoning behind those changes. They are not the operative rule — the enacted text is the section itself.
Historical and Revision Notes
senate report no. 95–989
The debtor is permitted to modify the plan before confirmation without court approval so long as the modified plan, which becomes the plan on filing, complies with the requirements of section 1322.
The original acceptance or rejection of a plan by the holder of a secured claim remains binding unless the modified plan changes the rights of the holder and the holder withdraws or alters its earlier acceptance or rejection.
Guides that rely on 11 U.S.C. § 1323
Plain-language explanations on this site that cite this section.
By Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. · Florida Bar No. 21022
Last reviewed July 27, 2026 · Sources verified July 27, 2026 · How we verify
Every figure on this page is drawn from a primary legal source and checked against our canonical legal database before publication. Bankruptcy.law is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
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