Letter from trustee re: Review for Completion of Case (all good btw)

[Zombie13]

We received a letter from the trustee's auditor the other day about the closing of our case. The letter covers the forms we need to fill out, which our attorney has agreed to help us with.
The... sorry, my kitty (the little <actually, very large but not overweight> furry guy that saved my life thank you very much) is telling me (very loudly I might add...) it's dinner time... (and yes, I owe him that, along with his two other, adopted siblings LOL )
The last paragraph says, <ahem>:
Unless we comply by Feb. 16 2022 our case may be closed without a discharge. Provided these documents have been filed and all provisions of the plan have been met, your discharge should enter shortly after the closing audit on your case has been completed.

Sooo... question. I am zeroing in on the phrase 'closing audit'. I read this as: provided the court receives the requsite signed forms, then, on or shortly after Feb 16 2022, we will get our discharge. Now... does this statement, tell us anything about the Closing date? Shall we expect another letter in the future from the trustee about the Closing of the BK? Again, I am focusing on the phrase, 'closing audit'. I doubt it, but I am doing some heavy duty wishful thinking. I do not believe we can put the house on the market til we get the closing. But, that's another story, a whole nuther rant.

[justbroke]

I would not worry. This is the way that Chapter 13 cases are discharged and close. After your final payment, the Chapter 13 Trustee does an audit. This audit, and discharge, can take 30-90 days from the date of your last payment and depend on several factors. They must ensure that the plan was paid properly, that the creditors were paid what they should have been paid, and any checks that were sent out at the end were not returned. They also deal with all the returned checks, make sure any domestic support obligations are up to date, and do a final reconciliation.

I never received anything about the close. The discharge is the prize.

[Zombie13]

Understood, thank you. Once we get the discharge, I will ask (re-ask to confirm) our attorney about putting the home on the market, just to be sure we are in the clear to proceed. I have already had a preliminary conversation with the title company about selling the home post-bankruptcy/bk.

[Zombie13]

justbroke - I think we will be able to check the status on NDC for the status of: 'Closed'. Currently on the Case Information page, the NDC Case Status is: Active-Open, and the General Information ==> Case Status is: About to Close. So I reason, when it is closed, the Case Status should show: 'Closed'.
Additionally, the NDC site shows, (I believe) the final distributions have been made, posted Feb. 01 2022.
Balance on Hand is $0.00.
Plan Base, Total Paid Into Plan, and Disbursements->Total Paid to All Parties, are equivalent
ie:
Plan Base == Total Paid Into Plan == Disbursements->Total Paid to All Parties.

[justbroke]

Sounds like everything is in order for a successful close!

[Zombie13]

Heck yeah!
Our attorney just emailed us 30 minutes or so ago, with the 'Response to Final Cure Payment' from the home lender's attorney. They checked the box stating, 'yes, debtors are current on their mortgage'.
Now, if their attorney could just get paid that $50 in the suspense account.
Ahh... just checked the mortgage payments online. Looks like the account ledger shows they did get paid. And when I go through the process to make the monthly mortgage payment, the $50 fee is no longer a line item. So, looks like we are clear with that finally. PHEW!
Though it looks a little weird the way the payment was made. -50 to the suspense account (the payment I made with the bk department over the phone), +50 in escrow (??), then +50 in the suspense account, and there's a +50 in a 'Total Advances' line item (??). Total Payment = escrow + advances = $100... ?? Hm. I think I need them to explain all this to me, so I understand what's going on.
But seriously... $50 to check a freakin box? LOL! Just kidding. I know attorneys work very hard, and spend years in school prior, also working hard then.

[justbroke]

Accounting... now you see why it can be hard, at the end of a Chapter 13, to make sense of all the numbers!

[Zombie13]

Yeah that's true. That's what the attorneys get paid for.
It does look like, the money flowed like this: bank account ==> suspense account ==> escrow account ==> attorney payment. ... Maybe.

[justbroke]

Debits and credits... debits and credits... LOL

[Zombie13]

Right? Say that really fast, as many times as you can. Actually, just: debits credits debits credits... haha!

[Zombie13]

Soooo glad this is coming to a clear ending. Phew.

[Zombie13]

Also, our attorney just emailed the Debtor's Certification to Obtain Discharge forms to us. He checked all the appropriate boxes on the forms for us.
We signed, scanned, and emailed back to him. Now, he can file them, so the discharge process should get underway shortly. Last thing we need to do is mail the signed documents to him.

[newlife13]

Congrats! My attorney sent me an affidavit to sign today which will be filed with the Motion for Entry of discharge after the Trustee's final accounting audit. We are so close!

[Carmella]

It sounds wonderful Zombie13

[flashoflight]

We signed, scanned, and emailed back to him. Now, he can file them, so the discharge process should get underway shortly. Last thing we need to do is mail the signed documents to him.

I scan and email everything, but I've had to send every wet signature page by postal mail since pre-petition. I've done so many wet signatures from the 13 to various motions and the adversary that he doesn't remind me to mail it anymore.