Can they just have us pay it off if we were never told or signed any paperwork saying this could happen?

If your attorney isn't returning your calls, leave a message that you'll file an ethics complaint unless she/he speaks with you. Generally, they will not let you pay off your plan with a lump sum unless it's a 100% plan.

The actions of which you complain might or might not be appropriate. Your account is not really clear enough for me to form an adequate impression of what has happened and what, if anything has been improper. I am tempted to guess at the facts and offer an opinion, but I truly feel there is too much more to know. You might want to try to re-frame your question with more detail. Good Luck.

In many communities, unless you pay off all of the claims filed in your Chapter 13 case, plus all of the administrative costs, making a lump sum payment will not allow you to complete the Plan early. Instead, as you now are discovering, the Trustee accepted your payment as a bonus. Clearly having made this decision without obtaining legal advice first was a mistake.

If your attorney has stopped practicing, you can't be given a new atty. You have to accept a new atty and have the right to find one of your own. However, if you have received funds during the case, your payments could go up so this is not irregular.

There are really two issues to your question - the transfer of your case to another attorney without your consent, and the increase in chapter 13 plan payments. For the first issue, an attorney can't just shuffle off your case to another attorney. He must withdraw from your case, and to do that he needs authorization from the court. Unless, of course, the attorney he hands your case over to is part of the same law firm. The court considers the law firm your attorney, not the individual within the law firm, so if another attorney within the same law firm takes over your case, the court doesn't usually see a problem. Still, your attorney would need to get authorization from you to transfer your case over to this other attorney. If that didn't happen, I think most courts would consider the original attorney to be your current attorney. This is an ethical question, not a bankruptcy question. Your state's bar could answer this question for you fairly easily. As to the second issue, the judgment awarded to you is considered an increase in income. The bankruptcy trustee will look at this increase in income and demand an increase in plan payments. Unless your plan calls for 100% payout to unsecured creditors, there is no way to complete the plan at an earlier date. The plan was confirmed by the court after much debate and possibly litigation, so it's not going to be cast aside so easily. Chances are, the trustee will demand the nonexempt portion of the judgment awarded your husband, and then demand that you continue making the plan payments in the amount ordered by the court, for the duration ordered by the court.