Had it this morning. Got there about an hour early and still only got to see one person before us. He must have filed pro se as he didn't have any representation with him. Another couple were waiting for their lawyer to arrive. Since our lawyer showed up early the trustee went ahead and called us up next. She wasn't nice, she wasn't mean, she was just matter-of-fact about it all. She commented, after first telling us we would need to pay for something we wanted to keep, that our lawyer's office messed up our paperwork. I told her that I had questioned our lawyer's paralegal about that same issue and was assured that all was correct. The trustee then agreed that although the paperwork was wrong we had enough exemptions to keep the property she seemed to really want to take. But then she questioned the value we put down for the property. She stated that she has sold lots of them in the past and always gotten almost twice what we put down for the value of ours. Luckily, I had proof that we had sold another one of these properties about seven months ago for $2000 realized less than what we listed the value of the one we wanted to keep. There wasn't as much argument after I showed an actual sale amount for an identical item through a licensed/certified broker for what the market would bear. It was almost like I was being tested on how much I really knew about the valuation of our property. I still don't think she is completely happy about the value but I did my research and asked a broker about what to value it so we would be as accurate as possible. Since we were only requesting to exempt our 20 year old vehicle, our $300 in our bank accounts, our personal property which really is valued at less than $2000 and our timeshare that still has a mortgage attached then it fits under the Ch. 7 exemption amounts with no problems.
The lawyer asked if she wanted us to file an amendment but she stated that since there are no assets then it would be a waste of time. I am hoping that means we can relax a bit now and hopefully it is over. I asked our lawyer about the 60 days but he said it will be at least 90. I guess the courts are overloaded with BK's and the 60 days it used to take for discharge is now taking 90.
No creditors showed up for us or anyone else in the room. Very few people were there actually. I expected the room to be full of people waiting their turn but I only saw about four individuals/couples. Now we just sweat out the 60 days the creditors have to file an objection. Next step.......file the divorce and get it out of the way. Then finally, Freedom!
The lawyer asked if she wanted us to file an amendment but she stated that since there are no assets then it would be a waste of time. I am hoping that means we can relax a bit now and hopefully it is over. I asked our lawyer about the 60 days but he said it will be at least 90. I guess the courts are overloaded with BK's and the 60 days it used to take for discharge is now taking 90.
No creditors showed up for us or anyone else in the room. Very few people were there actually. I expected the room to be full of people waiting their turn but I only saw about four individuals/couples. Now we just sweat out the 60 days the creditors have to file an objection. Next step.......file the divorce and get it out of the way. Then finally, Freedom!
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