Hello all,
Had my 341 this morning. No problems. Went pretty much as expected (thanks to all the posts here!). Our district has A LOT of cases going so they had three trustees working in 3 different conference rooms (ours is not held in a courthouse in our area) with cases scheduled all day in all three rooms, so lots of activity.
My attorney had a "stand in", but I had actually done my initial consult with him so I was familiar and he is a pretty good guy. He had 4 cases, and the trustee was kind enough to call them all in a row so he didnt have to get up and come back etc. My attorney had already told me that this trustee was not as "nice" as the others, BUT he also was only looking for the "big stuff" and did not go over things with as much of a fine tooth comb as the others. (I.E. he never asked in advance, nor today, for any bank statements at all, which is pretty atypical from my readings here!) That was fine with me, not that I had anything to hide, but why make things more difficult?!
I did watch about 10 cases ahead of me, and our trustee though "gruff" and "particular", was not hard nosed with anyone...even those who clearly were unprepared. He even allowed some debtors to fill out paperwork they had not returned to him, or at least he claimed not to have receieved. He could have just continued or dismissed some of the cases, but he did not. There was a pretty even split of represented cases vs pro se.
So, he asked all the standard questions to everyone:
1. Did I read the information sheet he provided in the mail?
2. Was I familiar with all the filing paperwork? Was it accurate?
3. Did I list all assets? Debts?
4. Anything else I should know about?
Then he would proceed into any specific questions if he had any. Some people were pretty amazing...One had a business she was a partner in and somehow had NOT listed it in the petition! When he asked how much it was worth, she said about 300K! (AND she was represented by counsel!!) He asked her surprised, "did you say 300K?" She could tell this was not good, so she tried to back off saying she was just a partner etc...he asked her if there was any debt against that amount, and she said yes. He asked how much debt and I couldnt hear her answer, but he said "thats not debt!". Rather than get to into it at the 341, he just directed her to provide P/L statements and tax returns etc....
A couple of others failed to list assets, like an old trailer etc....he just told them to provide information about the items so he could decide whether to sell it or not. Another person sold a motorcylce for 6K, and couldnt remember whether it was solf BEFORE or AFTER filing, and if before, how did they spend the money.....wow. They were one of my attorneys cases and after the hearing I heard him tell them "we told you to sell this BEFORE filing!" However, in my view, if they were aware of it before filing (i.e. during the consultation or while they were paying payments etc..), they should have ASKED them about it before they allowed them to file.
SO, obviously since I ve been talking about everyone else, you probably guessed mine went just fine. After the standard questions, he asked me how much of a balance I had in my Health Savings Account....actually to be honest I had forgotten to list that in my assets when filed because I thought it was zero...(I had raided that long ago to try and survive). But I had actually rec'd a statement between filing and 341 and had like 20 bucks in it..(interest or whatever I guess). I told him....he just said, ok so you spent the rest of it...(not in the form of question). He then told said he would be looking into whether one of my cars I purchased 6 months ago (I bought one and leased one on the same day) had a perfected lien (I was expecting this - see my other postings), and he would notify my attorney. This is not a biggie for me other than I may become asset vs my current non-asset if he decides he has the legal right to take this car. Wont affect my discharge at all since I was planning to surrender this car to the lender anyway.
Then he asked if there were creditors and didnt even pause for an answer (there were none for anyone I saw) and said thank you, you are dismissed.
Was at the table for less than 3 mins total...
While here my attorney tried to give me a reaffirmation for my leased car that I am BEHIND on but hoping to keep, IF IF IF they work with me on the arrears and payment...otherwise they get it back...so I didnt sign. He also had one from Wells Fargo Financial for some furniture financing.....I did NOT sign that one either (and he said dont!). I dont even have the furniture anymore...and that was it! I tried to talk to him about my mortgage modification issue, but he knows less about that than I do...(thought that if I get a mod etc without reaffirming that I dont own the house and would basically be just throwing away money since I wouldnt "own" the house etc etc..I didnt even try to bother and explain to him..)
Now, I wait....Im not QUITE as excited about others as being in the 60 day club as I very well may get some creditor AP (the above mentioned Wells Fargo being one since there is no property to repo - plus some of the things I ve mentioned in my other posts). I told my attorney my plan is to not respond until actual APs are FILED. Maybe I wont get any?!
But, at least this part is done!
Had my 341 this morning. No problems. Went pretty much as expected (thanks to all the posts here!). Our district has A LOT of cases going so they had three trustees working in 3 different conference rooms (ours is not held in a courthouse in our area) with cases scheduled all day in all three rooms, so lots of activity.
My attorney had a "stand in", but I had actually done my initial consult with him so I was familiar and he is a pretty good guy. He had 4 cases, and the trustee was kind enough to call them all in a row so he didnt have to get up and come back etc. My attorney had already told me that this trustee was not as "nice" as the others, BUT he also was only looking for the "big stuff" and did not go over things with as much of a fine tooth comb as the others. (I.E. he never asked in advance, nor today, for any bank statements at all, which is pretty atypical from my readings here!) That was fine with me, not that I had anything to hide, but why make things more difficult?!
I did watch about 10 cases ahead of me, and our trustee though "gruff" and "particular", was not hard nosed with anyone...even those who clearly were unprepared. He even allowed some debtors to fill out paperwork they had not returned to him, or at least he claimed not to have receieved. He could have just continued or dismissed some of the cases, but he did not. There was a pretty even split of represented cases vs pro se.
So, he asked all the standard questions to everyone:
1. Did I read the information sheet he provided in the mail?
2. Was I familiar with all the filing paperwork? Was it accurate?
3. Did I list all assets? Debts?
4. Anything else I should know about?
Then he would proceed into any specific questions if he had any. Some people were pretty amazing...One had a business she was a partner in and somehow had NOT listed it in the petition! When he asked how much it was worth, she said about 300K! (AND she was represented by counsel!!) He asked her surprised, "did you say 300K?" She could tell this was not good, so she tried to back off saying she was just a partner etc...he asked her if there was any debt against that amount, and she said yes. He asked how much debt and I couldnt hear her answer, but he said "thats not debt!". Rather than get to into it at the 341, he just directed her to provide P/L statements and tax returns etc....
A couple of others failed to list assets, like an old trailer etc....he just told them to provide information about the items so he could decide whether to sell it or not. Another person sold a motorcylce for 6K, and couldnt remember whether it was solf BEFORE or AFTER filing, and if before, how did they spend the money.....wow. They were one of my attorneys cases and after the hearing I heard him tell them "we told you to sell this BEFORE filing!" However, in my view, if they were aware of it before filing (i.e. during the consultation or while they were paying payments etc..), they should have ASKED them about it before they allowed them to file.
SO, obviously since I ve been talking about everyone else, you probably guessed mine went just fine. After the standard questions, he asked me how much of a balance I had in my Health Savings Account....actually to be honest I had forgotten to list that in my assets when filed because I thought it was zero...(I had raided that long ago to try and survive). But I had actually rec'd a statement between filing and 341 and had like 20 bucks in it..(interest or whatever I guess). I told him....he just said, ok so you spent the rest of it...(not in the form of question). He then told said he would be looking into whether one of my cars I purchased 6 months ago (I bought one and leased one on the same day) had a perfected lien (I was expecting this - see my other postings), and he would notify my attorney. This is not a biggie for me other than I may become asset vs my current non-asset if he decides he has the legal right to take this car. Wont affect my discharge at all since I was planning to surrender this car to the lender anyway.
Then he asked if there were creditors and didnt even pause for an answer (there were none for anyone I saw) and said thank you, you are dismissed.
Was at the table for less than 3 mins total...
While here my attorney tried to give me a reaffirmation for my leased car that I am BEHIND on but hoping to keep, IF IF IF they work with me on the arrears and payment...otherwise they get it back...so I didnt sign. He also had one from Wells Fargo Financial for some furniture financing.....I did NOT sign that one either (and he said dont!). I dont even have the furniture anymore...and that was it! I tried to talk to him about my mortgage modification issue, but he knows less about that than I do...(thought that if I get a mod etc without reaffirming that I dont own the house and would basically be just throwing away money since I wouldnt "own" the house etc etc..I didnt even try to bother and explain to him..)
Now, I wait....Im not QUITE as excited about others as being in the 60 day club as I very well may get some creditor AP (the above mentioned Wells Fargo being one since there is no property to repo - plus some of the things I ve mentioned in my other posts). I told my attorney my plan is to not respond until actual APs are FILED. Maybe I wont get any?!
But, at least this part is done!
Comment