341 Meeting/Confirmation today...Riverside CA...Chapter 13

[monkeyface]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to post my experience today because the posts that I have read through for MONTHS on here help me a lot!

We were in Riverside CA court where the 341 & confirmation hearing are held on the same day. Good news is that we made it through the 341 & were confirmed.

To chronicle the experience is very difficult as there were 98 cases to be heard and we were #89. We also sat through the entire confirmation hearing. We were the only debtors of 98 cases to show up at the confirmation hearing.

341:
Arrived at 9:30 for 10 a.m. 341
Watched as many people went before the trustee and were told that he would be requesting from the judge that their cases be dismissed. Mostly for missing paperwork. Some for the appearance of bankruptcy fraud.

We were called at approx. 10:10.
The trustee swore us in, ask us maybe 5 questions and recommended for confirmation pending our acceptance of a $300 increase in our payment.

That was it. We said yes to the $300 increase and we were done in 5 minutes tops.

Confirmation hearing:
We were told that the judge that we have is very particular when it comes to mortgage arrears and we had to file a special declaration for past mortgage history. Many cases before us had not filed this declaration and were dismissed immediately.

We sat through 2 hours of the confirmation cases. Out of 89 cases (including us) only 5 were confirmed. Most because of missing paperwork...please make sure that your attorney is on it otherwise you could end up in dismissal.

I was very nervous when it came our time........trustee recommended for confirmation...judge granted lien strip.....and CONFIRMED!! Unbelievable considering the cases we watched.

So today I feel successful. Now just to make 59 more payments.


Thank you to all that post here. Without you, I would not have asked all of the questions to our attorney that I did and could have ended up like the other 84 cases today and been dismissed.

[sunshinepa]

Congrats to you. I hope your payments are reasonable and you can now enjoy a bit of life without stress!

[Atrix]

Wow!....Sounds like the trustee experiece will be hard....We will be filling 13 in the next few months in Riverside CO.....Now...I'm really nervous.....What are most cases dismissed for? My attorney seems very knowledgable but....only 5 were confirmed when you were there????...That is scary!. We are both self employed...and I am really nervouss. What does the trustee ask? what does the judge ask?....I am so grateful for any more info...thanks

[monkeyface]

Hi Atrix. I think the reason that most of the cases were dismissed was because we got the luck of the draw and had the "new" judge. He is very strict especially when it comes to mortgage arrears. In most of the cases they were dismissed because this judge requires a special document that lists the last 6 months of mortgage payments. Most attorneys/people did not file what he had asked for as this is a new thing for them.

As for the trustee questions, they were not hard at all. Did you read through paperwork? Did you bring your first payment? Questions like that. For us the only additional questions were did I have my insurance declaration page and were we willing to increase our payment by $300? He never did explain why, just told us it would go up by $300.

During the confirmation hearing we were the only people there besides attorneys. I would recommend going as it is very interesting. We needed to know what was going to happen so we went and sat through it. The judge did not speak to us directly. We just sat and watched. Our attorney went before the judge.

Please let me know if you have any more questions. I would be glad to answer whatever I can. This was so nerve wracking for us that I would love to help if I can.

[LadyInTheRed]

Atrix, take a deep breath. There is nothing in Monkeyface's post that should scare you. There are just some cautionary notes about making sure all required paperwork has been filed with the court and/or submitted to the trustee.

You are unlikely to ever see the judge and the judge is unlikely to ever ask you questions. The only reason monkeyface saw the judge is that he/she(?) is a rare debtor who actually attended the confirmation hearing.

We were the only debtors of 98 cases to show up at the confirmation hearing.

It is the trustee who asks questions at your 341. The judge won't be there. Read the 341 forum and you will get a good sample of the questions the trustee will ask you. You will also see that most people have such an easy 341 that they laugh at the fact they were so nervous.

ETA: monkeyface posted while I was working on my response.

The answer to your question of why only 5 of 89 cases were confirmed is in Monkeyfaces post.

341:
Arrived at 9:30 for 10 a.m. 341
Watched as many people went before the trustee and were told that he would be requesting from the judge that their cases be dismissed. Mostly for missing paperwork. Some for the appearance of bankruptcy fraud.

Confirmation hearing:
We were told that the judge that we have is very particular when it comes to mortgage arrears and we had to file a special declaration for past mortgage history. Many cases before us had not filed this declaration and were dismissed immediately.

We sat through 2 hours of the confirmation cases. Out of 89 cases (including us) only 5 were confirmed. Most because of missing paperwork...please make sure that your attorney is on it otherwise you could end up in dismissal.

Ask your attorney what else will be required. Because you are self employed, your document requirements may be a little more extensive. You can call your attorney a week before 341 to make sure all required documents have been submitted. When you go to your 341, you can bring copies of everything you believe should have been submitted, just in case something was missed. Don't forget to bring photo ID and your social security card. Make sure you make your plan payments that are due before the 341.

The Chapter 13 Trustee in Riverside has a lot of information on his website. http://www.rodan13.com/index.html He has info on preparing for the 341 at http://www.rodan13.com/index-5.html#Anchor-53853 Read the 341 checklist.

You've come to the right place to get the information to be your own best advocate and make sure your plan gets confirmed.

Without you, I would not have asked all of the questions to our attorney that I did and could have ended up like the other 84 cases today and been dismissed.

Welcome to the board, Atrix. Keep reading and asking questions.

[karm43]

Why was your payment increased?

[sunshinepa]

Congrats Monkeyface!!!!!