Question about Trustee taking tax refund

[RRD]

Hello,

A while back, I posted that our lawyer (who obviously doesn't know what he's doing) was able to exempt our tax refund in the amount of $6700 so that we could keep it since we filed federal exempt. Well the IRS emailed us and said that the trustee was taking it. So I called the trustee and he said that he never recieved anything from the lawyer stating that it was to be exempted. The trustee then explained that they'll take the refund and dispurse it out to the "estate" and give us the remainder. I was in such shock, I didn't ask him what he meant by our estate....we don't have anything. We bankrupted on a foreclosed house and credit cards...that was it. Is that our estate? If so, I seriously doubt there's anything to get back. We're in Nevada, but filed with federal exemption, not state exemption.

Any input?

Thanks!

[justbroke]

I don't even know where to begin, but for you, I'd start back with the lawyer!!! This should have been in your schedules (on Schedule C) as exempt. If your lawyer never exempted the anticipated refund... well... there isn't much you can do at this point.

Do you have a copy of your Petition? On Schedule C, do you see something like "Anticipated 2008 Tax Refund", with some amount and then the section of the Federal Exemptions (11 USC 522) exempting all or part of it? If not, then your lawyer never exempted it.

[RRD]

I don't even know where to begin, but for you, I'd start back with the lawyer!!! This should have been in your schedules (on Schedule C) as exempt. If your lawyer never exempted the anticipated refund... well... there isn't much you can do at this point.

Do you have a copy of your Petition? On Schedule C, do you see something like "Anticipated 2008 Tax Refund", with some amount and then the section of the Federal Exemptions (11 USC 522) exempting all or part of it? If not, then your lawyer never exempted it.

No, he didn't exempt it in the sched c....after paying for the lawyer he turned into an a$$. I would never recommend him to anyone! The trustee was really understanding and even said that this particular lawyer gives them problems all the time and is known for not telling his clients everything. He is a tell you what you want to hear kind of lawyer. He filed an amendment since the BK is not closed and the trustee said that to his knowledge the money we were supposed to get direct dep into our account tomorrow is now going to the trustee. I just am confused as to what our estate is? Sucks whne you plan out your refund to the penny and then they tell you you're not getting it!

[justbroke]

I truly feel sorry about this. That's a good chunk of money. Have you looked at the amendments to see if it's in the amendments? Is the lawyer still around? Is he going to fight for the amendment (if it's even there) and to get your money back from the Trustee before the Tee disburses it.

[RRD]

I truly feel sorry about this. That's a good chunk of money. Have you looked at the amendments to see if it's in the amendments? Is the lawyer still around? Is he going to fight for the amendment (if it's even there) and to get your money back from the Trustee before the Tee disburses it.

Thanks. He said he was going to fight for it, but he also said that it was "fixed" last month and not to worry about it that the trustee didn't fight it so we could keep the full refund because we were federal exempt. I think he is just has too many clients. He mailed a letter out today to the trustee, but I truly think it's too late. We filed our taxes on Feb 8th and were supposed to get them tomorrow. I think that if we would have known this sooner we would have had a chance, but now I think that the trustee will just take it. I hope I'm wrong, but when I called the trustee today, he said that it doesn't matter if we're fed exempt or not, they get it. He could have been blowing smoke. I'll definitely post here for sure if we get it - or even some of it! Thanks for your posts.