We had our 341 on Friday and it was a breeze!
We were scheduled at 11:30am and arrived at about 10:45am to ensure we were prepared. We found the conference room and were slightly taken back by looking at the schedule of meetings that day; we were the ONLY Pro Se filers that day!
We went in and had a seat in the back of the room and there were only about 6-8 others in the room at the time. Two couples went before us, and it made us a little nervous because the trustee told one of them he'd be filing them as an asset case. The other couple had no SS cards and got extended until they could provide those.
When we got called up the nerves REALLY began to get jittery. We were sworn in and the questioning began. Asked us all the basic questions that he had asked others. Then he asked us to look at the different schedules and confirmed our assets. He questioned on exemption, because I had quote a case number rather than the state exemption rule. He said it was "odd, but he'd allow it" because the case I quoted was his own. It was an exemption that stated rent security deposits are exempt. He almost seemed impressed. Haha
He kept asking if we had ANY help with filling out the documents and I had to repeatedly tell him no. I told him I had only done research online and read the NOLO book. He asked where I got the book and how much it cost. I told him and that was that.
My biggest worry was the fact that we had no bank account the day of filing, and he didn't even bat an eyelash at it. He did mention that he would be keeping an eye on our tax refund and would likely take 2/3 of it. He recommended that we file an amendment to exempt our Earned Income Credit-nice guy! Then he told us he'd file for a discharge, but the case wouldn't close until after he received our tax refund check. All in all we were up there MAYBE 10 minutes and they were painless.
When we left an attorney approached us and said that we shouldn't have trusted the NOLO book because it's published in San Francisco (we're in Oregon) and may not have included all the proper exemptions. I couldn't hear exactly what he said because he was whispering, but we're pretty sure that he then offered to take us on as a client to file our amendment. Very odd.
Anyway, just wanted to post another successful 341 meeting story for those who have yet to experience it. The countdown is on!!
We were scheduled at 11:30am and arrived at about 10:45am to ensure we were prepared. We found the conference room and were slightly taken back by looking at the schedule of meetings that day; we were the ONLY Pro Se filers that day!
We went in and had a seat in the back of the room and there were only about 6-8 others in the room at the time. Two couples went before us, and it made us a little nervous because the trustee told one of them he'd be filing them as an asset case. The other couple had no SS cards and got extended until they could provide those.
When we got called up the nerves REALLY began to get jittery. We were sworn in and the questioning began. Asked us all the basic questions that he had asked others. Then he asked us to look at the different schedules and confirmed our assets. He questioned on exemption, because I had quote a case number rather than the state exemption rule. He said it was "odd, but he'd allow it" because the case I quoted was his own. It was an exemption that stated rent security deposits are exempt. He almost seemed impressed. Haha
He kept asking if we had ANY help with filling out the documents and I had to repeatedly tell him no. I told him I had only done research online and read the NOLO book. He asked where I got the book and how much it cost. I told him and that was that.
My biggest worry was the fact that we had no bank account the day of filing, and he didn't even bat an eyelash at it. He did mention that he would be keeping an eye on our tax refund and would likely take 2/3 of it. He recommended that we file an amendment to exempt our Earned Income Credit-nice guy! Then he told us he'd file for a discharge, but the case wouldn't close until after he received our tax refund check. All in all we were up there MAYBE 10 minutes and they were painless.
When we left an attorney approached us and said that we shouldn't have trusted the NOLO book because it's published in San Francisco (we're in Oregon) and may not have included all the proper exemptions. I couldn't hear exactly what he said because he was whispering, but we're pretty sure that he then offered to take us on as a client to file our amendment. Very odd.
Anyway, just wanted to post another successful 341 meeting story for those who have yet to experience it. The countdown is on!!
I didn't think to ask him about the exemption rule, I was just overjoyed that I made the trustee crack a smile!
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