Over their history, Chapter 13 bankruptcy laws, perhaps more than any other kind of bankruptcy in the United States, have seen a dramatic ebb and flow with regard to the rights of the individual debtor. What makes this all the more notable is the fact that said history of Chapter 13 law is pretty short in itself.
Such is realistically par for the course, so to speak, when it comes to the majority of individual chapters as well; not just Chapter 13 bankruptcy laws. As a result, the same amendments that were so critical to the foundation of other subsets of the Bankruptcy Code brought changes to Chapter 13 law.
Some notes on governing Chapter 13 bankruptcy laws with a nod to their historical development:
Chapter 13 law is contained within the United States Code, more narrowly in Title 11, also know as the Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 13 law is only less than four decades old. Like Chapter 11 provisions that were assembled from previous pieces of legislation on business reorganization, Chapter 13 bankruptcy laws were breathed into life as a result of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.
