Still Waiting

[LJoutWest]

Well, we filed on October 2nd, 2009 and are still in limbo! The UST at the end of Nov. filed a motion to dismiss, and on January 11th (something close to that) our attorney filed a response. We had a hearing scheduled for Feb. 2nd, and according to procedures the UST had to respond before the meeting but they had the meeting stricken. Now, we just wait! Our attorney says there is nothing we can do on this. We had to file another schedule as my wife's 82 year old father is now living with us because he cannot be left alone and her mother can't take care of him. That added more expense and our attorney thought that would take us to a point that the UST would allow for dismissal. That was about a month ago and still nothing.

So my question, how long can the UST take to respond? Just curious. I know in my district they are swamped and that our attorney made a very good reply overall so just curious if anyone has any idea. Have a great night and Monday!

[justbroke]

They can't take that long. There are timelines for hearings. Something is just not adding up for me. If a hearing was "continued", there is a new date scheduled. If there is currently no hearing scheduled, there's something wrong. Your attorney could ask for a hearing to be held.

Really can't tell, but do you have PACER?

[LJoutWest]

Pacer shows no hearing scheduled, our status is Awaiting Discharge, under case summary all it shows beside the UST and our Trustee and lawyer's info is Flags: 707, 707(b), MEANSYES;

Also shows:
Proof of Claims Deadline 3/5/2010 and our adjustment on 3/9/2010.

All our hearing shows is that it was stricken and no new date set. I don't think it is right that the UST can take as long as they want to respond to our response to the motion to dismiss or drag this out. I just want a decision, yes to the 7 or we move into a 13. I think (he hasn't said) that our lawyer feels better not to rock the boat(?). I'm going to call him today and ask why were not moving forward one way or another. At some point I would think the judge would state that the UST just can't take forever.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Pacer shows no hearing scheduled, our status is Awaiting Discharge, under case summary all it shows beside the UST and our Trustee and lawyer's info is Flags: 707, 707(b), MEANSYES;

Also shows:
Proof of Claims Deadline 3/5/2010 and our adjustment on 3/9/2010.

All our hearing shows is that it was stricken and no new date set. I don't think it is right that the UST can take as long as they want to respond to our response to the motion to dismiss or drag this out. I just want a decision, yes to the 7 or we move into a 13. I think (he hasn't said) that our lawyer feels better not to rock the boat(?). I'm going to call him today and ask why were not moving forward one way or another. At some point I would think the judge would state that the UST just can't take forever.

The good part is your flags indicate "waiting for discharge" and you have yet to be dismissed. The bad is MEANSYES I believe means that the UST has an idea of fraud or other reason not to allow discharge. I've attempted at a better explanation of these flags and the best I could come up with was this:

http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/psco/cgi-bin/courtinfo.pl?court=E_MTBK

which really does not tell much more. I think that your lawyer should address your regular Trustee to find out what the beef with the UST is, and then make active action on curing whatever doubt the UST may have.

Bringing the old folks into your household won't hurt going forward on your 7 bk and I would not consider 13 unless there just isn't any hope to go forth.

Those flags have been a real question on may folks minds for some time. 'Hub

[justbroke]

The issue is that your attorney should probably push the issue. The UST only has so long to prosecute a 707 Motion to Dismiss. Generally, they must do so before the 60 days (discharge bar date). Your attorney should be filing a Motion that would compel the Trustee to move forward or for the court to Discharge the debtor.

Seems everyone is just sitting around, staring at the ceiling.

(Actually, I'm thinking that the UST had previously asked for a motion to extend the deadline for determining dischargeability. Even if they had, I think you're well past even that new date, as the Court usually only extends it by another 60 days. Your Attorney could probably file a Motion For Summary Judgment and claim that the Trustee's time to file a motion to dismiss had expired on XXXXXX.)

[LJoutWest]

Talked to our attorney. He is going to file for a summary judgment and feels we should be good to go since the time elapsed is such that the UST hasn't filed for an extension etc. and should have if they wanted it. Not a timely or speedy result.

On another note MeansYes does not have to do with fraud. In our case we were over the means which raised the red flag to begin with and the UST had a series of questions we had to answer. Hopefully this ends soon. Do you think the judge would be happy with the delay?

[justbroke]

Do you think the judge would be happy with the delay?

Not only do the Judges not like delays, the Bankruptcy Code is unforgiving if you "miss" any deadline! Good for your attorney to push the issue. Hopefully, this will be over within a few weeks.