341 next week

[JellyBeany]

The latest PACER notation just shows the continuance. I will continue to check daily for any updates. Fingers crossed for the discharge.

[justbroke]

It can be argued both ways and a third that includes both desired outcomes - keep all property and be discharged. Of course if one owes more than one has, the discharge is desirable. If one wants to keep property and has zero means of ever paying debt, then keeping property is more important because its day to day survival reality.

I think our difference is in what the process dictates and the debtor's expected outcome. The reality is that the debtor needs protection from the creditors before they sue that creditor into poverty. Otherwise, why run to the bankruptcy court for protection? However, that protection has certain rules to at least give both the creditor and the debtor a fighting chance to come out with something.

I think that people generally have a dislike for the creditors' ability to use process to collect on what the debtor promised to pay. The system, the court, is there as a referee to, on a good day, keep the fight fair. That refereeing is governed by a set of rules. For some debtors those rules are very protective and the debtor can come out of the fight with everything intact. For other debtors, those rules require that the debtor give up something for something.

The golden rule... if both parties are upset about the outcome, it's probably the right decision. It's not a perfect system, but as you have personally seen, the bankruptcy code is very protective and simple in most cases. It's only when it gets into the nuanced issues of valuation that it becomes argumentative. (My personal feeling is that valuation is the crux of most issues in bankruptcy. Second would be application of exemptions.)

But I got off track on expectations of the 341 Meeting, what that means, continuances, and the discharge. The real issue is when the Trustee sees something interesting (questionable) and this drags out the 341 Meeting process. While that doesn't affect the discharge, which is the actual goal of a bankruptcy, it can make people wonder why it's taking so long. My retort is... you'll hate a Chapter 13 if you think a Chapter 7 is too slow.