The 43-day shutdown that began October 1, 2025 was the longest in history, and for federal employees in the District it was a stress test of every household budget. With another September 30 deadline approaching, the question in our office is not whether furloughed workers will call, but what to tell them. Here is the playbook, whether you are already in a Chapter 13 plan, considering Chapter 7, or simply trying to hold creditors off until back pay arrives.
If you are in a Chapter 13 plan
A Chapter 13 plan is a promise to pay a fixed amount every month for three to five years, and a furlough interrupts the income that funds it. The plan does not fail the day you miss a payment, but it does fail if nothing is done.
Call your attorney before the payment is missed, not after. Three tools exist:
- A short suspension or moratorium. Most Chapter 13 trustees, including the trustee for the District of Columbia, will consent to a motion suspending plan payments for one to three months when the cause is a documented furlough. The missed months are added to the end of the plan or spread across the remaining payments.
- Plan modification under 11 U.S.C. ยง 1329. If the shutdown runs long, or if your agency's back pay is delayed, the plan can be modified to lower the monthly amount, extend the term (up to the 60-month maximum), or both.
- Catch-up from back pay. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 guarantees furloughed and excepted employees retroactive pay once the shutdown ends. That lump sum is the natural source for catching up any deferred plan payments, and a moratorium motion can be written to require it.
Do not simply stop paying and hope. A trustee's motion to dismiss for non-payment moves faster than most people expect, and a dismissed case ends the automatic stay for every creditor at once.
Wage-order cases. If your plan payments come out of your paycheck under a wage deduction order, a furlough means no paycheck and therefore no deduction. The trustee's office knows this happens; you still need the moratorium on file so the shortfall is authorized rather than a default.
If you are considering Chapter 7
A furlough can move you across the means-test line in either direction.
The means test looks at your average monthly income for the six full calendar months before filing. Furlough months with no pay lower that average. A GS-12 whose salary is above the DC median for a household of one may fall below it after two furlough months are averaged in, and below-median filers skip the second half of the means test entirely.
Two cautions. First, the retroactive pay you will receive is income when received; if you file after it lands, it is counted in the look-back. Second, the court can consider whether the six-month snapshot is unrepresentative, so a filing timed purely to catch a furlough dip should be able to show a real, ongoing need. If the debt problem existed before the shutdown, it can.
If you are not in bankruptcy and just need to get through it
Most furloughed workers do not need a bankruptcy. They need thirty to sixty days of forbearance and a plan for the interest.
- Mortgage and auto lenders have historically offered shutdown forbearance programs, particularly the federal credit unions and the large servicers. Ask in writing, and get the terms in writing.
- Credit cards will generally grant a one-cycle payment deferral on request. Interest continues to accrue.
- Federal student loans can be placed in forbearance by the servicer for a documented furlough.
- DC utilities cannot disconnect for nonpayment without notice, and both Pepco and Washington Gas have deferred-payment arrangements.
Keep every furlough notice and pay stub. If a creditor later sues, or if you later file bankruptcy, the documentation explains the gap.
Creditors who will not wait
A shutdown does not pause a garnishment, a default judgment in DC Superior Court, or a repossession. If any of those is already in motion when the furlough starts, the calculus changes: an emergency Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 filing stops all three immediately, and the furlough itself is evidence of the good faith the court looks for. See Emergency Bankruptcy Filing in DC.
Frequently asked questions
Will filing bankruptcy during a shutdown affect my security clearance? Filing is not itself a disqualifier, and adjudicators treat a documented, responsibly handled financial problem more favorably than an unaddressed one. The detail is in Federal Employee Bankruptcy and Security Clearances.
I am a contractor, not a federal employee. Do I get back pay? Generally no. Contractor employees are not covered by the 2019 Act, which is why contractors are disproportionately the people who end up needing a Chapter 13 after a long shutdown. The plan tools above apply to you the same way.
My spouse is furloughed and I am not. Does that matter for the means test? Yes. The means test uses household income, so a furloughed spouse lowers the household average whether or not that spouse is filing.
The DC means test calculator takes three minutes and lets you run the numbers with and without the furlough months.
Federal Employee Bankruptcy in DC, Security Clearance, TSP, and the Means Test
How Chapter 13 Plan Payments Are Calculated in DC
DC Chapter 7 Means Test: What the Numbers Actually Mean in 2026
Your Employer Filed Bankruptcy in DC: What Happens to Unpaid Wages, Severance, and Benefits?