10 days out from 341 Ch 7 Pro Se

[xyta777]

Hey folks, I’m 10 days out from my 341 meeting and I see most people’s accounts of it being a relatively quick/simple process. What kinds of questions can I expect from the trustee? One concern I have is I was using Chime bank for a lot of my banking, and my account with them has since been closed. As a result, I can’t get my statements because my online access has been terminated. Will this be a significant barrier?

[justbroke]

For the questions, there's a sticky for that... https://www.bkforum.com/forum/before...rustee-ask-341

Generally speaking, there are about 10-12 standard questions. They may then "hone in" on areas that they either discovered from the "required" document that you sent in, or from your answers to those questions. Some people call it digging deeper, I call it inquiring further.

The Trustee will push for the statements. You should be able to demand them by saying that they're needed in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. There are other ways to command the production of documents, but I'll assume you're not a practicing attorney admitted to the federal bankruptcy court's bar. So if you have issues, you may need to lean on your Trustee and ask if they can subpoena them.

I'll back up and say that there must be some way to demand the statements in a writing. I'm sure banking -- not bankruptcy -- law requires them to provide statements on demand.

[BxRcvor]

I'm not sure how to answer the "bank statement" question, but I can tell you that they were not required for my 341 hearing in Florida, outside of what I had to provide for the general filing document itself. IIRC, I had to list data on them onto the filing form, but I did not have to provide them in and of themselves. YMMV, however.

As for the 341 hearing itself (and the fact that you are going Pro-se), you might consider doing this, if possible. Try to show up as early as possible. They'll probably put you in a "waiting room" until the time of your hearing, but it may actually not start immediately at that time. Get inside the hearing room as quickly as you can before your case is called. The trustee will, most likely, be handling several cases in the hearing room, one at a time, but visible to all. Watch the trustee and how he interacts with the attorneys and petitioners that are there. You should get a reasonably good idea on how to interface with the trustee. It will, probably be slightly different since the trustee will know that you are pro-se, as opposed to being represented by counsel. But, hopefully, you'll find a way to gain his/her favor.

At my 341, my trustee was concerned that I had listed a bit of "personal property" on my filing form. A good portion of it was "exempt" from collection but only to the extent permitted by law for each category of property. My house (primary residence) was fully exempt. That was the structure only. The contents therein were not, but each had their own exemption schedule. Also, the 1st $1000 of my car's value was also exempt. It helped a little that I was willing to give back that exemption and give up the car completely.

What my lawyer ended up doing was negotiating a settlement figure, all in cash, + the value of the car, and I would not have to give up any of my personal property. Good for me and them. Good for them because they wouldn't have to go through the trouble of auctioning off my personal property. The car they could auction with relative ease. Good for me because I could keep all my property or manage what I'd need to sell. If something would have to be sold or auctioned, then I'd have to do it. Thankfully, I didn't have to. My lawyer even arranged for me to split the cash payment into 3 monthly installments, which was no problem for me.


Hopefully, you can arrange something similar with your trustee.

[xyta777]

That’s really helpful, thanks. I also am giving up my car but I don’t think they’ll make anything off it. It’s virtual but I will do the equivalent of showing up early.

[BxRcvor]

That’s really helpful, thanks. I also am giving up my car but I don’t think they’ll make anything off it. It’s virtual but I will do the equivalent of showing up early.

Yeah, I forgot you're dealing with COVID, still. My 341 was well before COVID so they were all "in person." I'm thinking it won't matter if you "show up early" because they probably won't turn on the video conference until it's "your time." Sorry. Do the best you can.