Chapter 13 is a form of bankruptcy, in which a debtor agrees to repay creditors over a period of time such as 3 to 5 years. It is used instead of other forms (Chapter 7 and Chapter 11) of bankruptcy, usually because the debtor has some form of property, such as a home that they do not want to lose due to foreclosure, or a car they do not want to be reposessed. Once a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing is made, the court issues an order which prohibits foreclosure or reposession until the court holds a hearing on the matter. This can, in some cases, give the debtor enough time to bring payments up to date. If they can't do so by the time the hearing date occurs, the property may at that time be subject to being foreclosed upon or reposessed.