341 Meeting in VA (Telephonic)
My post here is a bit on the late side, but I wanted to post up about my recent 341 meeting. The actual meeting took place over the phone and was in the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District of Virginia Bankruptcy Court. There were 12 cases the trustee was going over, including my own. There were no creditors present on the call.
The trustee started off with the basics, stating his name, why we were all there, and the sequence of events that was going on. He then went on to calling the role asking attorneys to speak up when they heard their clients name, and then asking the clients themselves to speak up after. Although I was second on the list they sent out, a couple of attorneys had asked that their cases be front loaded for one reason or another.
As the time went on, he began to worry me a bit as he was extremely thorough with everyone, asking some pretty targeted questions about their plans and about some exemptions and things that seemed off. I was worried he would grill me about the deductions I had claimed for my wife's credit card, store card, and student loans. Although I did provide proof of all these payments coming out of her individual account each month, I still didn't want anything to hold up a quick and easy meeting. The trustee submitted an objection because of my 401(k) loans, so we had just submitted a modified plan at the beginning of May that included a step-up after the 2 and 4 year marks (added $28/month after first 2 years and another $34/month after 4 years, no big deal there).
He finally got to me, and started with the basic verification questions. Asked my name, DOB, did I read over and understand my paperwork, did I sign my paperwork, is everything still true and honest, and have I ever filed for bankruptcy before. The only single question he asked me was did I submit the modified plan based on his objection. My attorney handled that, and the trustee verified he had got it and looked over it and it look good. Funny how he asked did we do it, then proceeded to say he looked over it earlier and it was good, but I wasn't about to complain. He said it was good, told me to have a good day, and that was it. Literally, I would say, entire thing lasted 4-5 minutes. I don't think I could have dreamed it up any better.
My advice to anyone else doing it over the phone would be:
a. Make sure you find a quiet place and mute your phone Mic until its your time to speak. A couple people weren't doing it initially and it got to the point the trustee threatened to halt and reschedule the meeting if people didn't start muting.
b. My specific trustee was really staying on attorney's and their clients about their tax returns, and some paperwork that was missing. I requested a bit of a dry run with my attorney the day before just to make sure they had everything, and had submitting everything to the trustee. I also had my copies with me on hand during the meeting in the event there was something missing, or a question asked I may not have known off the top of my head. However, my attorney did all the talking outside of the trustee's verification questions to me.
c. Make sure you ask any questions of your attorney before the meeting so you know and are prepared for whatever going into it. I would also say don't panic, but I believe anxiousness and nervousness will always be a part of it. So instead of saying don't panic, what I will say is be prepared.
d. Stick to yes and no answers as much as possible. It seems like a couple of the others within the group were hurting themselves providing additional information when it wasn't asked, as their additional information seemed to lead to follow-on questions from the trustee that I'm pretty sure would not have happened had they gave him a simple yes or no.
These are just my thoughts, opinions, and experiences. I hope everyone else's meeting goes as smoothly as my own. Looking forward to confirmation June 18th
The trustee started off with the basics, stating his name, why we were all there, and the sequence of events that was going on. He then went on to calling the role asking attorneys to speak up when they heard their clients name, and then asking the clients themselves to speak up after. Although I was second on the list they sent out, a couple of attorneys had asked that their cases be front loaded for one reason or another.
As the time went on, he began to worry me a bit as he was extremely thorough with everyone, asking some pretty targeted questions about their plans and about some exemptions and things that seemed off. I was worried he would grill me about the deductions I had claimed for my wife's credit card, store card, and student loans. Although I did provide proof of all these payments coming out of her individual account each month, I still didn't want anything to hold up a quick and easy meeting. The trustee submitted an objection because of my 401(k) loans, so we had just submitted a modified plan at the beginning of May that included a step-up after the 2 and 4 year marks (added $28/month after first 2 years and another $34/month after 4 years, no big deal there).
He finally got to me, and started with the basic verification questions. Asked my name, DOB, did I read over and understand my paperwork, did I sign my paperwork, is everything still true and honest, and have I ever filed for bankruptcy before. The only single question he asked me was did I submit the modified plan based on his objection. My attorney handled that, and the trustee verified he had got it and looked over it and it look good. Funny how he asked did we do it, then proceeded to say he looked over it earlier and it was good, but I wasn't about to complain. He said it was good, told me to have a good day, and that was it. Literally, I would say, entire thing lasted 4-5 minutes. I don't think I could have dreamed it up any better.
My advice to anyone else doing it over the phone would be:
a. Make sure you find a quiet place and mute your phone Mic until its your time to speak. A couple people weren't doing it initially and it got to the point the trustee threatened to halt and reschedule the meeting if people didn't start muting.
b. My specific trustee was really staying on attorney's and their clients about their tax returns, and some paperwork that was missing. I requested a bit of a dry run with my attorney the day before just to make sure they had everything, and had submitting everything to the trustee. I also had my copies with me on hand during the meeting in the event there was something missing, or a question asked I may not have known off the top of my head. However, my attorney did all the talking outside of the trustee's verification questions to me.
c. Make sure you ask any questions of your attorney before the meeting so you know and are prepared for whatever going into it. I would also say don't panic, but I believe anxiousness and nervousness will always be a part of it. So instead of saying don't panic, what I will say is be prepared.
d. Stick to yes and no answers as much as possible. It seems like a couple of the others within the group were hurting themselves providing additional information when it wasn't asked, as their additional information seemed to lead to follow-on questions from the trustee that I'm pretty sure would not have happened had they gave him a simple yes or no.
These are just my thoughts, opinions, and experiences. I hope everyone else's meeting goes as smoothly as my own. Looking forward to confirmation June 18th
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