Not that I want to hear bad stories about 341...

[readytofile]

But it seems that so many of the stories I've read now say, "Well ours was great but the guy before/after me was getting grilled by the trustee." So I'm wondering, anyone here had a bad 341 for seemingly no reason? Like I said, I'm not looking really for bad stories, but more of just knowing the possibilities.

[cupcake]

My 341 went smoothly, but I did get grilled a bit because I had a recent divorce and related retirement account transfer, as well as a personal injury settlement that was exempted.

Everything was rolling along quite smoothly - the typical drill - and then he said, "Oh, I remember you." As I sit here right now, I can distinctly remember the feeling I had in my chest when he said that. He had a lot of questions about the transfers between myself and my ex-H. He was especially interested in the settlement and how much of that settlement I paid to my ex, who also filed CH7 BK and who had the same trustee (my ex's 341 was scheduled a couple weeks after mine). He seemed to be satisfied with all of my answers and the meeting concluded on a good note.

The trustee didn't file his report of no distribution right away - it was actually more than 60 days after my 341 - and I was sweating it BIG TIME. He ended up filing it about 10 weeks after my hearing and I was discharged and closed a couple weeks after that.

Unfortunately, he converted my ex to an asset case and he's still dealing with the mess.

[readytofile]

My 341 went smoothly, but I did get grilled a bit because I had a recent divorce and related retirement account transfer, as well as a personal injury settlement that was exempted.

Everything was rolling along quite smoothly - the typical drill - and then he said, "Oh, I remember you." As I sit here right now, I can distinctly remember the feeling I had in my chest when he said that. He had a lot of questions about the transfers between myself and my ex-H. He was especially interested in the settlement and how much of that settlement I paid to my ex, who also filed CH7 BK and who had the same trustee (my ex's 341 was scheduled a couple weeks after mine). He seemed to be satisfied with all of my answers and the meeting concluded on a good note.

The trustee didn't file his report of no distribution right away - it was actually more than 60 days after my 341 - and I was sweating it BIG TIME. He ended up filing it about 10 weeks after my hearing and I was discharged and closed a couple weeks after that.

Unfortunately, he converted my ex to an asset case and he's still dealing with the mess.

Ooh my! So am I assuming correctly that he wasn't as much looking into you as he was looking into your Ex for the money you shared with him?

Yeah I don't have anything like that. I DO however have 2 401k's that we cashed out in 2008 and the lawyer said they may want to know what happened to the money. It's simple enough to answer though. It went to pay off credit cards and money got put in the savings which in turn was used to pay bills when my husband was out of work for knee surgery. I hope that's a good enough answer.

[leena]

Well, backtoschool has the Mother of All 341 Stories, maybe she will chime in here...

[chrisdfw]

Mine was mixed, the trustee was very professional and nice.

Really seemed to ask questions about my exemptions, Also wanted to know about retirement plan contributions. I recieved some money in the month of filing and in order to stay under no asset limits made a Roth IRA contribution. I tried to answer this in the language of the exemption, said I made a contribution of the yearly amount allowed under the IRC and she did not seem happy about it but dropped it.

Then questioned me about an injury claim (the reason for the bk) She said it might not be exempt.

She filed an objection to exemption. We responded with the appropriate paperwork and she dropped it, I think she was trying for the low hanging fruit. I didn't like it that I believe she knew the objection did not have merit, but wanted to try and get some money anyway.

The meeting itself was ok, mine was longer than those before me due the IRA questions. (I had over 100,000 in retirement accounts and am relatively young, so I think she just didn't like that) Still it was worth it.

[ForTheBest]

I had my 341 today and now feel like the official poster child for what happens when you don't find this forum soon enough.

Things started out just fine, but quickly went downhill when it became apparent that my lawyer was ill prepared, had failed to submit my tax returns to the Trustee as ordered, and had evidently made a couple of serious errors on my schedules.

As a result, the Trustee grew increasingly impatient, admonished my lawyer, continued the case until next month... and ENDED the questioning with "You retained this attorney to represent you?" and "How much did you pay him?"

Oof.

I don't have enough money to change lawyers at this point and honestly don't know what to do.

The lesson? Find this forum before you pay an attorney... and learn what questions to ask so that you can retain a good one.

[readytofile]

I had my 341 today and now feel like the official poster child for what happens when you don't find this forum soon enough.

Things started out just fine, but quickly went downhill when it became apparent that my lawyer was ill prepared, had failed to submit my tax returns to the Trustee as ordered, and had evidently made a couple of serious errors on my schedules.

As a result, the Trustee grew increasingly impatient, admonished my lawyer, continued the case until next month... and ENDED the questioning with "You retained this attorney to represent you?" and "How much did you pay him?"

Oof.

I don't have enough money to change lawyers at this point and honestly don't know what to do.

The lesson? Find this forum before you pay an attorney... and learn what questions to ask so that you can retain a good one.

ewh, I'm sorry

[leena]

I had my 341 today and now feel like the official poster child for what happens when you don't find this forum soon enough.

Things started out just fine, but quickly went downhill when it became apparent that my lawyer was ill prepared, had failed to submit my tax returns to the Trustee as ordered, and had evidently made a couple of serious errors on my schedules.

As a result, the Trustee grew increasingly impatient, admonished my lawyer, continued the case until next month... and ENDED the questioning with "You retained this attorney to represent you?" and "How much did you pay him?"

Oof.

I don't have enough money to change lawyers at this point and honestly don't know what to do.

The lesson? Find this forum before you pay an attorney... and learn what questions to ask so that you can retain a good one.

Wow, so sorry you are dealing with that! I would say get in there and really go over stuff with the attorney you have. Make sure he s/he fixes the issues. My attorney has three of four offices in this area, and has done BK for years and years, so I doubt that BIG incompetence would happen, but I think just as a back up, I am going to bring the stuff I gave to my attorney, like tax returns, all the pay stub copies, ect. I have heard about trustees losing stuff as well (a pro se filer here submitted stuff at filing the trustee said he did not have).

[OhioFiler]

I had my 341 today and now feel like the official poster child for what happens when you don't find this forum soon enough.

Things started out just fine, but quickly went downhill when it became apparent that my lawyer was ill prepared, had failed to submit my tax returns to the Trustee as ordered, and had evidently made a couple of serious errors on my schedules.

As a result, the Trustee grew increasingly impatient, admonished my lawyer, continued the case until next month... and ENDED the questioning with "You retained this attorney to represent you?" and "How much did you pay him?"

Oof.

I don't have enough money to change lawyers at this point and honestly don't know what to do.

The lesson? Find this forum before you pay an attorney... and learn what questions to ask so that you can retain a good one.

ALWAYS review your schedules before signing.

[ForTheBest]

ALWAYS review your schedules before signing.

Thanks for your replies.

While I did review the schedules before signing and found a couple of omissions which were then fixed, the real problems came about with things I questioned but was told not to worry about or was told weren't necessary.

My car, for example, was not listed as an asset on Schedule B. When I questioned that, the lawyer said it didn't need to be listed because I was upside down on the loan. The Trustee obviously didn't agree since that was the first thing she brought up when things started going downhill at the 341.

Another example: a personal injury/pain and suffering claim I'm involved with as the result of a car accident a year ago, which another lawyer is handling for me. I questioned my bk attorney as to why it wasn't listed anywhere and was assured -and reassured - that it didn't need to be. "We're not sure you'll actually get anything, so there's no reason to mention it." Now I find out it should have been listed and exempted.

There are other examples but I'll spare you those.

In an ideal world, I guess I should have known the correct answers on my own, but I thought that's what I was paying a lawyer for.

My statement of financial affairs hasn't been filed yet and you can bet I'm researching that up the wazzoo at the moment so I'll know what to look for, etc. when I review and sign it.

[leena]

ALWAYS review your schedules before signing.

Thanks for your replies.

While I did review the schedules before signing and found a couple of omissions which were then fixed, the real problems came about with things I questioned but was told not to worry about or was told weren't necessary.

My car, for example, was not listed as an asset on Schedule B. When I questioned that, the lawyer said it didn't need to be listed because I was upside down on the loan. The Trustee obviously didn't agree since that was the first thing she brought up when things started going downhill at the 341.

Another example: a personal injury/pain and suffering claim I'm involved with as the result of a car accident a year ago, which another lawyer is handling for me. I questioned my bk attorney as to why it wasn't listed anywhere and was assured -and reassured - that it didn't need to be. "We're not sure you'll actually get anything, so there's no reason to mention it." Now I find out it should have been listed and exempted.

There are other examples but I'll spare you those.

In an ideal world, I guess I should have known the correct answers on my own, but I thought that's what I was paying a lawyer for.

My statement of financial affairs hasn't been filed yet and you can bet I'm researching that up the wazzoo at the moment so I'll know what to look for, etc. when I review and sign it.

Much as the "Bankruptcy Mill" attorneys take flack, this stuff rarely happens with the attorneys that do nothing but BK all day every day they know, and their staff knows, exactly what the trustees are going to ask about and what they expect to see on the schedules. Maybe you HAVE a BK mill attorney, I have heard some horror stories, but as I said, it seems that you don't usually hear this stuff about the lawyers who do only BK for a living.

[2manybills]

ALWAYS review your schedules before signing.

Thanks for your replies.

While I did review the schedules before signing and found a couple of omissions which were then fixed, the real problems came about with things I questioned but was told not to worry about or was told weren't necessary.

My car, for example, was not listed as an asset on Schedule B. When I questioned that, the lawyer said it didn't need to be listed because I was upside down on the loan. The Trustee obviously didn't agree since that was the first thing she brought up when things started going downhill at the 341.

Another example: a personal injury/pain and suffering claim I'm involved with as the result of a car accident a year ago, which another lawyer is handling for me. I questioned my bk attorney as to why it wasn't listed anywhere and was assured -and reassured - that it didn't need to be. "We're not sure you'll actually get anything, so there's no reason to mention it." Now I find out it should have been listed and exempted.

There are other examples but I'll spare you those.

In an ideal world, I guess I should have known the correct answers on my own, but I thought that's what I was paying a lawyer for.

My statement of financial affairs hasn't been filed yet and you can bet I'm researching that up the wazzoo at the moment so I'll know what to look for, etc. when I review and sign it.

I would set up a meeting with your attorney, make sure he correct your schedules accordingly and comply with all of the TT's requests. You are the client. Insist that your interests are represented properly!

[ForTheBest]

Thanks Leena and 2ManyBills for your advice. I do appreciate it. (And 2ManyBills, I'm really impressed that your number of posts hit the 500 mark today!)

The process of posting my situation here and reading the responses really helped me think it through. The lawyer wasn't from a mill, but was much less experienced and knowledgable than he presented himself to be. He seemed okay at first, but it wasn't long before I was feeling very uncomfortable with him. Since I had already paid him, though, I kept trying to ignore the red flags... until the 341 when it was clear that I couldn't do that anymore.

As a result, I've retained a new attorney to clean up the messes the first one made. Yes it's going to cost me extra, but the peace of mind will be worth it. Not to mention that I'll no longer risk not getting a discharge or losing a personal injury settlement (or worse) because of the first one's incompetence.

It was actually my personal injury lawyer who helped me find the new bk atty today and work out a payment arrangement I can handle. I should have talked to him about this months ago, before I ever retained the first bk lawyer but, nooooo, I was too embarrassed about filing to even mention it to him.

My own ability to shoot myself in the foot even amazes me at times. But hey, I'm getting better at the foolish pride thing. Now I'm even spilling my guts in a public forum. I've definitely come a looong way during this process.

Anyway, I meet with the new atty again on Tuesday and, for the first time since I filed, I think I might actually get some sleep this weekend.

[iv65536]

Thanks Leena and 2ManyBills for your advice. I do appreciate it. (And 2ManyBills, I'm really impressed that your number of posts hit the 500 mark today!)

The process of posting my situation here and reading the responses really helped me think it through. The lawyer wasn't from a mill, but was much less experienced and knowledgable than he presented himself to be. He seemed okay at first, but it wasn't long before I was feeling very uncomfortable with him. Since I had already paid him, though, I kept trying to ignore the red flags... until the 341 when it was clear that I couldn't do that anymore.

As a result, I've retained a new attorney to clean up the messes the first one made. Yes it's going to cost me extra, but the peace of mind will be worth it. Not to mention that I'll no longer risk not getting a discharge or losing a personal injury settlement (or worse) because of the first one's incompetence.

It was actually my personal injury lawyer who helped me find the new bk atty today and work out a payment arrangement I can handle. I should have talked to him about this months ago, before I ever retained the first bk lawyer but, nooooo, I was too embarrassed about filing to even mention it to him.

My own ability to shoot myself in the foot even amazes me at times. But hey, I'm getting better at the foolish pride thing. Now I'm even spilling my guts in a public forum. I've definitely come a looong way during this process.

Anyway, I meet with the new atty again on Tuesday and, for the first time since I filed, I think I might actually get some sleep this weekend.

You probably should have fired the first atty before you filed.

[2manybills]

Thanks Leena and 2ManyBills for your advice. I do appreciate it. (And 2ManyBills, I'm really impressed that your number of posts hit the 500 mark today!)

The process of posting my situation here and reading the responses really helped me think it through. The lawyer wasn't from a mill, but was much less experienced and knowledgable than he presented himself to be. He seemed okay at first, but it wasn't long before I was feeling very uncomfortable with him. Since I had already paid him, though, I kept trying to ignore the red flags... until the 341 when it was clear that I couldn't do that anymore.

As a result, I've retained a new attorney to clean up the messes the first one made. Yes it's going to cost me extra, but the peace of mind will be worth it. Not to mention that I'll no longer risk not getting a discharge or losing a personal injury settlement (or worse) because of the first one's incompetence.

It was actually my personal injury lawyer who helped me find the new bk atty today and work out a payment arrangement I can handle. I should have talked to him about this months ago, before I ever retained the first bk lawyer but, nooooo, I was too embarrassed about filing to even mention it to him.

My own ability to shoot myself in the foot even amazes me at times. But hey, I'm getting better at the foolish pride thing. Now I'm even spilling my guts in a public forum. I've definitely come a looong way during this process.

Anyway, I meet with the new atty again on Tuesday and, for the first time since I filed, I think I might actually get some sleep this weekend.

Good for you! Thanks for noticing FortheBest. I didn't even notice that was my 500th post!