Trustee's Objection to Claim of Exemption.

[heyu]

The objection deals solely with valuation.
The Trustee, whats her name, hereby objects to claim of exempt property consisting of.
All property listed on schedule C by the Debtor for the following reasons:

1 The Trustee questions the value of the personal property and would assert that the Debtor exceeds his entitlement to a claim of exemption under Article X, Section 4, especially since the appliance and most of the assets belong to Debtor before he was married.

2 Trustee will arrange an appraisal of the personal property to determine the exact amount of the overage.

Trustee request that a hearing be scheduled on the within objection under the provisions of rule 4005 of the Bankruptcy rules, and that the Clerk of the Court give notice of such hearing to all parties of interest. Trustee believes 10 minutes will be needed for the hearing.

On my schedule C all my house hold property that was listed as exempted was divided by two as the Lawyer had said 1/2 interest was my wife's, now it seems as if the Trustee is questioning that, does anyone have any idea as to what is happening here, I would really appreciate someone explaining in plain English, Thanks.

[ready2puke]

Seems like the pig wants it all.

[magyar123]

Must be a real creditor friendly trustee.

[BROKENN]

Boy, not nice. I would value everything on Craigslist and print. Lots of work, but mostly bigger items. Then you can compare, becuase they still have to let you have the exemptions! Personal property, jewelry, tools of trade, etc.....

[Tbornetun]

Your property should be valued at garage sale prices. Sounds like this trustee is a real pain in the butt.

[B65]

what are they saying

that they will arrange someone to come to your home to apprasie it does that happen ?

B

[happy_ira]

This smells like a potential problem.

Valuations are subjective and can range in value. You should request a range, not a specific value. (I used to do financial valuations professionally for one of the very large consulting firms.)

Nevertheless, when the Trustee requested an appraisal valuation on my home (he wanted to see whether or not there was any equity in it), I hired someone who was approved (Federal home licensed appraiser). As he was doing the inspection of the home, I made small talk and said "yeah, home prices have really fallen..." and I planted in his mind some low prices. "How do you thikn the mortgage crises and economic woes will impact your life..." little talk that slowly fed him where I wanted it to go.

If an appraiser/inspector comes to your house, try a similar tactic with respect to "it's used.... old.... blah blah blah..." for the personal property items of interest. You could even stick on ugly looking tape on the products which brings the value WAY down as it looks half-broken, held together by tape, etc. You get the idea.

Good luck.

[AngelinaCatHub]

[justbroke]

1 The Trustee questions the value of the personal property and would assert that the Debtor exceeds his entitlement to a claim of exemption under Article X, Section 4, especially since the appliance and most of the assets belong to Debtor before he was married.

Ahh, Florida. If you're claiming the homestead exemption, you only have $1,000 to work with (in Wildcard Exemptions). A Trustee is certainly going to question you if you say that your 5-bedroom house only has $1K worth of furnishings in it.

2 Trustee will arrange an appraisal of the personal property to determine the exact amount of the overage.

Normal procedure. Remember, the Trustee doesn't like the value you used under the Wildcard (Article X Sec. 4) -- which is the $1,000 for a single debtor. I think my total assets summed up to just about $4K. I used my homestead exemption (the unused value of $4K -- F.S. 222.25(4)), and the Wildcard Exemption (Sec. 4, Art. X)

On my schedule C all my house hold property that was listed as exempted was divided by two as the Lawyer had said 1/2 interest was my wife's, now it seems as if the Trustee is questioning that, does anyone have any idea as to what is happening here, I would really appreciate someone explaining in plain English, Thanks.

Your lawyer completed your forms? I wonder what the lawyer used for the value of property. Did you just tell him a value, or did the lawyer just make it up.

I used some on-line preparation tools to do my initial Petition (but later manually did them because they came out wrong). Many will try to force a household of furnishing and appliances into the Florida $1K wildcard exemption. Most Trustees are too smart to fall for that one!

[ready2puke]

Im so sorry 1k is hardly enough for someones personal property. When I read this stuff, I certainly appreciate Ca. exemptions. I think maybe were one of the luckier states.

[justbroke]

Im so sorry 1k is hardly enough for someones personal property. When I read this stuff, I certainly appreciate Ca. exemptions. I think maybe were one of the luckier states.

Yeah, but Florida put all the money into the unlimited homestead exemption.

Florida figured there was more money in property. That's why you can keep your $1M equity in your $2M mansion here in Florida.

[ready2puke]

Oh I see...thats good for homeowners...Ive never been lucky or unlucky to ever own one.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

No - its only good for mansion owners really. Most people in Fl don't have homes worth that much and they still have to deal with the crazy limits on personal property and cars. ($1,000 each)

[justbroke]

I agree with PoorGranny. However, with the upside-down market, most people have no equity in their homes.

So, I was able to "not" claim the homestead exemption in my Bankruptcy, and instead, use the $4,000 granted me by not claiming it, as a wildcard exemption (F.S. 222.25(4)). This allowed me $5K of wildcard exemption money, and it covered my assets very well.