First I would like to say thanks to everyone who helped ease my nerves in the thread I posted a few days ago. This forum was invaluable, and everyone was so willing to help I was amazed as I was used to running into "trolls" on forums, that is not the case here.
My 341 was scheduled for this morning at 9:30am, and I just want to chronicle the process, as so many others here have done.
6:35am - Woke up after a rough night of sleep, located my SS card for the 15th time to make sure I had it. Got dressed, not in the mood to eat. Went with slacks and a dress shirt, no tie though.
7:15am - Left the house, and put the address in my GPS.
8:20am - After the traffic debacle and avoiding several accidents, I arrived on the street listed where the court house was. Let's just say downtown is a train wreck, found a space four blocks away and hoofed it to the building.
8:40am - Arrived at the building, but it was the wrong entrance had to walk around another block to get to the right place.
8:45am - Get there take off all metal and get scanned into security and head to my appointed room.
8:50am - Get to the room to watch the other cases, it was a non-threatening environment room was a desk with the trustee sitting at a laptop. A bunch of low quality chairs for people to sit in while waiting for her to call them up. The FBI sign had fallen off the wall that warned of prosecution for bankruptcy fraud.
9:00am - The cases are batched in 30 minute intervals, so the next batch started. One attorney had all four people for the 9:00am time frame. He was a stand in attorney. The first case a guy lived with his girlfriend, owned four cars, and a Harley, and he said his girlfriend owned the house and all the liens were in her name. The Trustee was questioning him right and left about missing titles for the vehicles, he claimed he mailed them to her. The stand in lawyer just wrote on his notepad and was a bit puzzled, she did not know the stand in lawyer so it made it worse. He said he sold the two vehicles to his girlfriend and gave the trustee a piece of paper with the sale agreement between them as proof. I thought it was over for this guy, but the trustee asked him to submit the missing paper work, and asked him a few questions and it was over.
9:10am - This couple was called up and she started asking the rapid fire questions, Have you given anything away worth $1000 in the past year? Then she asked about his tax return (one of her standard questions), he replied he got back $7000, she asked where is the money. He said ummm to pay the lawyer, she said AND, he muttered he paid some bills that were behind. The trustee was replied why were you behind on the bills, and he said because his wife's unemployment ran out. His story seemed a bit flimsy, even his attorney started to look worried. But, the trustee grilled him a little bit more, and let them be about their way to the 60 day club.
9:20am - No sign of my lawyer started to get a bit worried, went looking for him and he was no where to be found.
9:25am - Went back to the room and waited thinking of what I would do if my lawyer was late or didn't show.
9:28am - Man pokes his head in the door and calls out my name and one other persons, and we go to the lobby.
9:30am - It's a stand in lawyer, but I was familiar with him and had discussed my case with him at the firm before, so I was comfortable he knew what to do. We sat in the attorney/client meeting room and discussed final details to prep.
9:35am - Went back in the room and my name was called shortly after, I had my SS card and license out because she was becoming annoyed with people fidgeting around for them when they walked up there.
9:36am - Swore that I would tell the truth and what not, stated my name and address. She starts with rapid fire questions I must have answered 5 within a minute and all my answers were yes ma'am, no ma'am.
9:38am - She asked if I have consulted an attorney for something other than bankruptcy, I answered yes and explained it. Then she asked if I was keeping my properties and I said no I am letting all of them go. I was feeling good like this is almost over, then she paused for literally about 3 minutes.
9:41am - She was looking at my case on the computer which made me realize she might not have reviewed it that thoroughly before the date of the hearing. She then asks "How did he pass the means test with this much income?" I literally froze and thought I was going to be sunk, but my stand in lawyer was awesome he said cooly and calmy oh you remember right there it's all from business debt. So he doesn't get a means test run, she shook her head in agreement.
9:43am - She then asked me about the only thing I was keeping, my vehicle valued at $12,000. She said how are you going to pay for it, and I told her from my wages. I then asked her how many payments does she do and she said three, and they would start June 1st and be $3885.00 a month for three months. She saw the look on my face and she was like yeah that's a lot of money, so she told me I could have five days to decide if I still wanted to keep it or not.
9:45am - All my documents were perfect, and she had no further questions. My hearing was over, and it looks like I am part of the 60 day club. My lawyer told me that since no creditors showed up, it's highly unlikely they are going to object with the case loads and the fact that everyone is doing it.
9:55am - Left got in my car and went home to have a beer, glad that was over.
It was a fairly smooth meeting I looked the trustee in the eye the entire time, answered decisively and respectfully. I noticed in earlier cases if people paused or were like ummm, or started fidgeting with their stack of papers she would probe more.
I had a parking slip, SS card, ID, and a piece of paper with the address on it that's it. I just have to decide on the car situation, I don't think I can get financing so I have to see if I can find a decent used car for cash. Thanks for the help provided by everyone here, I was prepared and my selection in lawyer paid off big time. Every case except mine that I saw the trustee had complaints about the paper work or missing document, and was advising the lawyers how to properly document things.
The 341 is nothing to be scared of if you are honest and prepare yourself, I am glad this forum exists.
My 341 was scheduled for this morning at 9:30am, and I just want to chronicle the process, as so many others here have done.
6:35am - Woke up after a rough night of sleep, located my SS card for the 15th time to make sure I had it. Got dressed, not in the mood to eat. Went with slacks and a dress shirt, no tie though.
7:15am - Left the house, and put the address in my GPS.
8:20am - After the traffic debacle and avoiding several accidents, I arrived on the street listed where the court house was. Let's just say downtown is a train wreck, found a space four blocks away and hoofed it to the building.
8:40am - Arrived at the building, but it was the wrong entrance had to walk around another block to get to the right place.
8:45am - Get there take off all metal and get scanned into security and head to my appointed room.
8:50am - Get to the room to watch the other cases, it was a non-threatening environment room was a desk with the trustee sitting at a laptop. A bunch of low quality chairs for people to sit in while waiting for her to call them up. The FBI sign had fallen off the wall that warned of prosecution for bankruptcy fraud.
9:00am - The cases are batched in 30 minute intervals, so the next batch started. One attorney had all four people for the 9:00am time frame. He was a stand in attorney. The first case a guy lived with his girlfriend, owned four cars, and a Harley, and he said his girlfriend owned the house and all the liens were in her name. The Trustee was questioning him right and left about missing titles for the vehicles, he claimed he mailed them to her. The stand in lawyer just wrote on his notepad and was a bit puzzled, she did not know the stand in lawyer so it made it worse. He said he sold the two vehicles to his girlfriend and gave the trustee a piece of paper with the sale agreement between them as proof. I thought it was over for this guy, but the trustee asked him to submit the missing paper work, and asked him a few questions and it was over.
9:10am - This couple was called up and she started asking the rapid fire questions, Have you given anything away worth $1000 in the past year? Then she asked about his tax return (one of her standard questions), he replied he got back $7000, she asked where is the money. He said ummm to pay the lawyer, she said AND, he muttered he paid some bills that were behind. The trustee was replied why were you behind on the bills, and he said because his wife's unemployment ran out. His story seemed a bit flimsy, even his attorney started to look worried. But, the trustee grilled him a little bit more, and let them be about their way to the 60 day club.
9:20am - No sign of my lawyer started to get a bit worried, went looking for him and he was no where to be found.
9:25am - Went back to the room and waited thinking of what I would do if my lawyer was late or didn't show.
9:28am - Man pokes his head in the door and calls out my name and one other persons, and we go to the lobby.
9:30am - It's a stand in lawyer, but I was familiar with him and had discussed my case with him at the firm before, so I was comfortable he knew what to do. We sat in the attorney/client meeting room and discussed final details to prep.
9:35am - Went back in the room and my name was called shortly after, I had my SS card and license out because she was becoming annoyed with people fidgeting around for them when they walked up there.
9:36am - Swore that I would tell the truth and what not, stated my name and address. She starts with rapid fire questions I must have answered 5 within a minute and all my answers were yes ma'am, no ma'am.
9:38am - She asked if I have consulted an attorney for something other than bankruptcy, I answered yes and explained it. Then she asked if I was keeping my properties and I said no I am letting all of them go. I was feeling good like this is almost over, then she paused for literally about 3 minutes.
9:41am - She was looking at my case on the computer which made me realize she might not have reviewed it that thoroughly before the date of the hearing. She then asks "How did he pass the means test with this much income?" I literally froze and thought I was going to be sunk, but my stand in lawyer was awesome he said cooly and calmy oh you remember right there it's all from business debt. So he doesn't get a means test run, she shook her head in agreement.
9:43am - She then asked me about the only thing I was keeping, my vehicle valued at $12,000. She said how are you going to pay for it, and I told her from my wages. I then asked her how many payments does she do and she said three, and they would start June 1st and be $3885.00 a month for three months. She saw the look on my face and she was like yeah that's a lot of money, so she told me I could have five days to decide if I still wanted to keep it or not.
9:45am - All my documents were perfect, and she had no further questions. My hearing was over, and it looks like I am part of the 60 day club. My lawyer told me that since no creditors showed up, it's highly unlikely they are going to object with the case loads and the fact that everyone is doing it.
9:55am - Left got in my car and went home to have a beer, glad that was over.
It was a fairly smooth meeting I looked the trustee in the eye the entire time, answered decisively and respectfully. I noticed in earlier cases if people paused or were like ummm, or started fidgeting with their stack of papers she would probe more.
I had a parking slip, SS card, ID, and a piece of paper with the address on it that's it. I just have to decide on the car situation, I don't think I can get financing so I have to see if I can find a decent used car for cash. Thanks for the help provided by everyone here, I was prepared and my selection in lawyer paid off big time. Every case except mine that I saw the trustee had complaints about the paper work or missing document, and was advising the lawyers how to properly document things.
The 341 is nothing to be scared of if you are honest and prepare yourself, I am glad this forum exists.
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