my wife just recieved a lump sum payment from SSI can the trustee take the payment as partial replayment of the chapter 13

No.  Social Security funds are exempt and not property of the bankruptcy estate. However, depending on how the courts in your jurisdiction treat these things, if you are paying less than 100% to your creditors in the Chapter 13 the Trustee could file a motion with the court seeking to force you to either increase your plan payments, or pay over some or all of the social security income, but you should have your attorney strongly oppose any such motion. Mark J. Markus, Attorney at LawCertified Bankruptcy Law Specialist--State Bar of California Board of Legal SpecializationHandling exclusively bankruptcy law cases in California since 1991.http://www.bklaw.com/bankruptcy blog: http://www.bklaw.com/bankruptcy-blog/Follow Me on Twitter:  @bklawr