If you default on a chapter 13 can you file a chapter 7

It is not unusual for a person who is having trouble in a Chapter 13 to convert that case to a Chapter 7 case. Of course, there was some reason or reasons why a Chapter 13 was originally filed (rather than a Chapter 7) and those reasons may or may not be affected by a conversion.

For example, if you filed Chapter 13 because you "failed" the means test and then discovered after a year or two in the Chapte 13 that you simply can't make it, then you are probably OK.

If you filed the Chapter 13 because you have equity in a house that a Chapter 7 trustee would want to recover and sell, then you still have that problem.

Talk with your bankruptcy attorney, who knows all about the Chapter 13 filing. Tell him/her about the trouble you are having and ask about the good and bad aspects of converting to a Chapter 7 in your particular case.