Question about Bank Account and day of filing

[DopeyDwarf]

OK, I have seen many questions about bank accounts, and day of iling balances, and meetings (341) with the trustee. But now of course, I cannot find those threads, so I apologize in advance for asking a repetitive question.


We want to file ASAP (as in lawyer has paperwork ready and signed by us today) We are waiting for some checks to clear, which should happen by Friday at the latest. The lawyer said the day of filing, we must have $0 in our bank accounts, or close to it. Other lawyers (who I didn't hire for various reasons) said we could have no more than $100 in our accounts. Anyway, we are trying to get ridd of about $150 left in our accounts, plus we were told to empty our kids bank accounts (not happy about that, but what can I do). My BIG question is, our banks are 1 hour away (closest branch) and we don't have internet access on our accounts. Our lawyer is filing electronically. Do I drive to the bank the day he files to get a printout of our balance, or do I have until the 341 meeting to get the statement? Is anyone looking at it the DAY we file? And how much is a reasonable amount to really leave in the bank, that would be safe? We don't want to go down to zero, because then we will accrue overdraft charges. Thanks in advance everyone. I am fretting over this!!!

[happy_ira]

You are allowed to have a certain amount of cash in possession/bank on day you file (check your allowed exemptions). If it's around $150, the trustee is NOT going to try to take it. If it's $5,000.... that might be another story.

Don't fret over $150. The trustee will spend less than a heartbeat on it.

[TEW]

No day of filing is the big day do ATM withdrawal if you have to. Keep the cash.

[biggomez777]

Here's what our lawyer told us.

Have as little in the bank as possible on the day of filing. Writing checks was a BAD idea, because the court does not care if you have checks outstanding. Get rid of the money, go buy food for two or three weeks, we refilled EVERY Rx either of us had. We then went cash only for a while, just out of paranoia. The Trustee is going to want a statement for the last 6 months of your bank accounts starting at the day you filed moving back.

We worried about our accounts AFTER the filing, and he kept telling us not to worry. It's only the amount on the filing(for us, ~$50) that they care about.

[DopeyDwarf]

I don't think my state has any exemptions for cash on hand, or in bank accounts, if we do we can not figure out the amount, and I searched for 3 hours today - we are in Kansas. Also, our bank account will remain open, right? Direct deposit is the only method of payment offered by my husband's job.

[happy_ira]

I don't think my state has any exemptions for cash on hand, or in bank accounts, if we do we can not figure out the amount, and I searched for 3 hours today - we are in Kansas. Also, our bank account will remain open, right? Direct deposit is the only method of payment offered by my husband's job.

Trustee's are reasonable, but they also want to make money (apart from th3 $60 they are paid to review your case.) I live in New York, but based on the quick research I did:

• Federal exemptions do NOT apply in Kansas
• No "wildcard" exemption in Kansas
• Personal Property exemptions in KS do NOT allow for cash on hand (in theory, checking)
• (I live in New York, where Cash is allowed up to $2,500 (if taking Homestead))

So, given all the above, make sure your bank account is as low as possible on day before filing and day of filing (just to be certain). Obviously, you should not file the same day as direct deposit.

[happy_ira]

Dopey - in addition to research on the Internet and postings here, you should consider this: http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=7922

[DopeyDwarf]

I don't think I have enough time to get that book, since we are filing by friday!!! Obviously, it would have been helpful if our lawyer had given us some advance notice that we would be filing, since they sat on our paperwork for over a month, before even calling us!!! I am sick over the kids' bank accounts too!!! I am working hard on buying non perishable groceries and getting car repairs to whittle down my account, thanks for the advice everyone.

[happy_ira]

I don't think I have enough time to get that book, since we are filing by friday!!! Obviously, it would have been helpful if our lawyer had given us some advance notice that we would be filing, since they sat on our paperwork for over a month, before even calling us!!! I am sick over the kids' bank accounts too!!! I am working hard on buying non perishable groceries and getting car repairs to whittle down my account, thanks for the advice everyone.

First of all, you call the shots (not your atty). If Friday is a *bad* day for you, tell him to hold off a few days. There is no magic to your atty filing on a Friday over other days as far as I know.

Secondly, if you can afford it, you could still buy the book. It is chock full of plenty of info that you may encounter on the road ahead. I bought it after my filing and it has helped with some of the issues.

[cmos]

.

[AngelinaCat]

I don't think I have enough time to get that book, since we are filing by friday!!! Obviously, it would have been helpful if our lawyer had given us some advance notice that we would be filing, since they sat on our paperwork for over a month, before even calling us!!! I am sick over the kids' bank accounts too!!! I am working hard on buying non perishable groceries and getting car repairs to whittle down my account, thanks for the advice everyone.

You can purchase a downloadable version of the book and have it on your computer almost instantaneously. And both the Ch7 and 13 books have been updated since the date of that thread.

We were told to have as little money in our account as possible when we filed. We actually had a negative balance and perhaps $15.00 in cash between us.

[cmos]

and if it help save you some, check your local library.

[willbfree]

Dopey dwarf I don't know if this applies to all states but in AZ our attorney says we can have up to $750 in grocery store gift cards. These cards can eat down your cash reserves but be saved for future use when you are living off minimal cash reserves. There were stipulations like they couldn't be Costco or Sam's Club cards because of the huge amount of nonedible merchandise they carried. Generally Kroger's, Fry's, Albertson's etc were perfectly fine to purchase to hold for future use. That will help burn down cash reserves quickly but help you pay for perishable groceries during those times.