Guess who came to my 341 meeting today?

[StartingOver08]

Well, had my 341 meeting this morning. Natually of course the trustee for my district was there and my attorney was there (thank goodness!).

First words out of the Trustee was: The US Trustee wants to listen to this case so we are going to get him on the phone now.

The local Trustee asked all kinds of questions, then the US Trustee asked all kinds of questions. All in all it took almost half an hour. At the end they are continuing the meeting with a new meeting date of Nov 21.

When we left my attorney said it went very very well. He knew they were going to contest because of the amount of the debt ($1M) and I am filing single, but I am married. I have to say, my attorney handled it exceptionally well. I do trust him and he had submitted all the information prior to the hearing. He expects the US Trustee just wanted a little extra time to review. I will keep you posted.

By the way, I had previously posted about my daughters' car. We were on the car together, she refinanced just before filing into just her name. The car is upside down by about $3000. The Trustee did not have an issue with it at all.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Starting..It sounds like the UST is going through the motions. Even though your continuing your meeting until later in the month..Congrats.

[StartingOver08]

Thanks. I think I will feel better once I am in the 60 day club

[BROKENN]

Good job! It had to be hard.......

Wishes for luck at the next

[happy_ira]

Hi there. I'll add my $0.02 because it bears similarity to parts of my case.

At my 341 (ch 7), the bankruptcy trustee asked his usual questions and had no major issues, but the UST raised a few questions which needed to be addressed. Like you, I was given an adjourned hearing date.

You/your atty have the ball in your court now. It behooves you to get additional paperwork/documentation to the UST. After I did so, my atty called the UST (several times), I sent some more info.... and then they said I do not have to show up to the adjourned hearing.

Remember: the bankruptcy trustee can make a % of assets if s/he finds something of value; if not, they're ready generally ready to "check out" as its using valuable time they coudl spend on other cases. The UST though is a different story. They are there to push some people from ch 7 into ch 13 *if* it merits it. However, if you can provide add'l documentation/follow-up phone calls from your lawyer, it will take a load of stress off you as you can possibly get out of the adjourned date.

Hope that helps.

[StartingOver08]

Yes IRA, thank you. I hope to do as you did in getting their ?? answered to their satisfaction. After your initial 341 did the US Trustee contact you or your attorney for additional info? Were motions available to see on Pacer?

[JRScott]

Even though your 341 is continued the discharge date does not change so long as you conclude the 341 prior to the initial discharge projection. So in essence you are in the 60 day club

Congrats

Hope it goes smooth

[happy_ira]

Even though your 341 is continued the discharge date does not change so long as you conclude the 341 prior to the initial discharge projection. So in essence you are in the 60 day club

Maybe. If the UST is involved and *especially* if they adjourned the hearing date, it is my understanding that they often file a Stipulation extending the 60 days by an add'l 60 days, for a total of 120 days (vs 60 day club).

StartingOver: do you know if your attorney signed a so called "Stip" agreement on your behalf?

[happy_ira]

Dealing with UST

Yes IRA, thank you. I hope to do as you did in getting their ?? answered to their satisfaction. After your initial 341 did the US Trustee contact you or your attorney for additional info? Were motions available to see on Pacer?

Let me be clear: the bankruptcy/case trustee asked his usual questions and was about to close the case, when the UST piped up. He was NOT focused on the Means Test (backwards looking). Instead, he was very focused on the Scheds I & J (forward looking) as, based on what I have learned, this is how they test the mettle and validity. The UST had about 6 line items that he asked me questions on. For each of those, he requested additional documentation. As he requested each piece of info, my lawyer and I wrote down exactly what he wanted.

Since he asked for more information (and wanted time to review when I submitted it), he asked for a Stipulation extending the time from 60 days to 120 days. This is normal in these kinds of cases. He signed it. The case trustee signed it. My attorney signed it. (Actually, you/your atty do not NEED to sign it (you can refuse), but it could then get messy and, from what I heard and read, the UST would likely haul you in to court (2004) for questioning under oath.)

So, as I was saying, we wrote down what he asked for. The UST does not place any subsequent calls to you/atty atty asking for the information. The ball is now in your court (no pun intended!). If you/your atty are not clear, you can call the UST (s/he will deal with your atty if you have one).

I would *highly* recommend you write a concise cover letter along with any additional documentation you are sending. In essence, this cover letter allows you to communicate additional information to the UST. You can make it a little emotional (these people do have hearts), but do not get carried away. (If you send me a private msg, I'll show you what my cover letters looked like.)

Actually, I needed to send additional information in two batches to the UST, so this gave me the oppty to communicate twice. A good thing.

After all the additional info, my lawyer followed up with a couple of calls to the UST Trial Attorney. Remember: the UST present at your 341 may have been a "Bankruptcy Analyst" but it is the actual "Trial Attorney" on staff at the Dept of Justice who would bring any issues to the judge and file any such motions. The Trial Attorney is higher up, from what I heard.

To answer your other question: Any Stipulations extending time, motions, etc. related to this gets put on PACER. HOWEVER, the adjourned date does NOT necessarily show up. That is something that would have been agreed verbally at the end of your 341 (as you pointed out: Nov 21 for you).

If you are successful in satisfying the UST, your atty can call and ask for you to be excused from the adjourned date. Remember: "satisfying the UST" means they are going to drop any 707(b)(2)/(3) presumptions.

Make sense?

Believe me, none of the above was *easy*. It took a lot of effort and focus to work with the UST and explain my situation concisely (these folks are overloaded with bankruptcies). I found the UST's office--both the Bankruptcy Analyst and the Trial Attorney--to be very smart and they knew what they were doing. That said, they also astutely realized after I provided the add'l documentation, that my case was solid given the mitigating circumstances involved.

[StartingOver08]

As far as I know, there was no stip agreement signed. Just the continuance to Nov 21.

My attorney is very very experienced. He says his method is to provide an abundance of paperwork backup (which believe me took almost a month for me to copy and organize to submit before filing). He said he thinks it is so the UST has additional time to review the paperwork already submitted.

I appreciate all that you and this board are doing to help me through this process. I hope to learn from your experience Happy_Ira. Thank you.