For those who are well beyond discharge...

[dp1969]

Those who filed BK the 1st of the year, were most of you relieved of your tax refunds by your trustee?

I'm having a hard time with this. Our lawyer did not want to hear of a possible "tax refund" for 2007. We stated in our filing that we don't know if we have any money coming to us...even though our past tax refund shows a refund in excess of $6k.

What do you think the trustee might think of that?

[ameliabedilia]

We are able to keep ours. We were discharged 01/18/08.

I have to ask most of you out there- How much in the hole were most of you each month before you filed bk? I know that if we had had an extra $500-$650 each month when things started to get tight, it would have made a HUGE difference in our financial situation. I'm just curious about all these gigantic refunds that so many of us on this board are getting, and then getting upset when they get taken away.

[PaKettle]

Those who filed BK the 1st of the year, were most of you relieved of your tax refunds by your trustee?

I'm having a hard time with this. Our lawyer did not want to hear of a possible "tax refund" for 2007. We stated in our filing that we don't know if we have any money coming to us...even though our past tax refund shows a refund in excess of $6k.

What do you think the trustee might think of that?

We haven't filed our taxes yet, but we expect to get back around $1000. My attorney said it didn't matter how much we got back, the UST would not take it. (I'm in So. Calif.)

[lrprn]

No one here can predict if all or part of your refund is safe from your trustee. Trustee practices regarding tax refunds vary widely around the country, even within the same bankruptcy court.

The only reliable source of information about how your trustee is likely to treat your tax refund is your lawyer. If you filed pro se, then you need to contact your trustee's office to see what his/her practices are around refunds.

[dp1969]

No one here can predict if all or part of your refund is safe from your trustee. Trustee practices regarding tax refunds vary widely around the country, even within the same bankruptcy court.

The only reliable source of information about how your trustee is likely to treat your tax refund is your lawyer. If you filed pro se, then you need to contact your trustee's office to see what his/her practices are around refunds.

Very interesting. Like I stated, we asked our lawyer about our 2007 tax refund and he stated that we didn't know if or how much we would be getting. Last year, we received a $7k tax refund but I was working in 2006 and we didn't claim but 1 in our deductions. I didn't work in 2007 and my husband claimed 5. We won't be getting back, as much, that's for sure.

PaKettle-
We are in Nor. Cal. so I'm curious about our trustee not taking anything.

[Cali]

We are able to keep ours. We were discharged 01/18/08.

I have to ask most of you out there- How much in the hole were most of you each month before you filed bk? I know that if we had had an extra $500-$650 each month when things started to get tight, it would have made a HUGE difference in our financial situation. I'm just curious about all these gigantic refunds that so many of us on this board are getting, and then getting upset when they get taken away.

We haven't filed yet and we were doing great until my contract for work wasn't renewed in December. So last month was our first month of being behind on bills.

We have our exemptions set so we get most of our money during the year, instead of at the end of the year.