Itemizing personal property

[Bailey2670]

When listing books/CDs/DVDs, do you have to list each title, or can you say "143 books" etc?

I have over over 1,000 titles of all three, and that would make for a lot of itemizing.

Also, is "wearing apparel" any clothing? And do you list it the same way?

Thanks

[SMinGA]

Grouping things together seems to be fine.

I made a somewhat detailed list, still grouping things together like:

books/cds/movies
clothing
living room furniture
dishes, pots & pans
etc.

I mentally went room by room, thinking about what we owned. My attorney grouped everything ALL into one category: misc. household goods & furnishings. He only left out things that had their own category. (Like jewelry - of which we own nothing of real value.)

He then went on to indicate a total value, with a disclaimer that no single item was over $300 in value. That is specific to GA exemptions though. We get $5000 per person filing in household items, and no single item should be over $300. But there is a $600 per person filing wildcard, which does not have the $300 cap, so I guess if we actually had anything worth more we could have used the WC on it.

[AngelinaCatHub]

As SMinGA stated, no you look at this as "yard sale junk". For instance if you had a first edition of "Gone with the Wind" as a collectible, but if you had ten boxes of books and saw that in a yard sale you would purchase one for a nickle. Clothes are worthless. Would you wear another person's underwear? (kidding) So same as junk. What you see as treasure, is not to a Trustee. They want to see valuable stuff. Personal stuff (unless jewels or the like) is not worth anything to others as it is to you. Price it all as yard sale stuff. 'Hub

[liz417]

I had three groupings: Furniture, household items and clothing/personal items. I had nothing of "value", so it really didn't matter how I grouped it, the Trustee is looking for valuable stuff, collections, etc.

[SMinGA]

Except for certain districts in FL (and possibly others?) that insist on using replacement value, and are notorious for sending appraisers... Perhaps it boils down to what exemptions your state allows? I think the problem in FL is there is only $1000 allowed for personal/household items in many cases and its hard for a trustee to believe anyone has JUST $1000 in stuff.

Research trends in your district, and ask your attorney of course.

As SMinGA stated, no you look at this as "yard sale junk". For instance if you had a first edition of "Gone with the Wind" as a collectible, but if you had ten boxes of books and saw that in a yard sale you would purchase one for a nickle. Clothes are worthless. Would you wear another person's underwear? (kidding) So same as junk. What you see as treasure, is not to a Trustee. They want to see valuable stuff. Personal stuff (unless jewels or the like) is not worth anything to others as it is to you. Price it all as yard sale stuff. 'Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

SMinGA. From what the OP has described, I stand by my post in that he/she has described what I call "junk". Now we were asset case as we owned some guns that I purchased back and other stuff over limit. We are in NE FL. If there is some collectible, still, the value is in the eye of the beholder.

As an example: Everything has value to the eye of the beholder. I have an old gun. (hypothetical story), It has an intrinsic value as let's say, an old gun. HOWEVER, this gun has papers that state, it was at Little Big Horn. It has a better value I would say. BUT, it can be proven it was General Custer's gun. Now that has a bit of value. So, as I see the OP's value as described, to the OP it is one value. To me it is junk. That is my point and the Trustee is too busy to care as long as the listing is honest and no value implied by declaring that Mom's quarter carrot ring (worth 50 bucks) was on the Santa Maria. 'Hub

[MarieT]

Thanks Angelina for making sense of how to value this stuff! I got a rude awakening when I tried to garage sale a lot of stuff last summer....noone wants your stuff or if they do....they want to pay $1 for a whole box of it! I think I have been thinking that our "stuff" is worth more than it is and that if the trustee sends someone to the house they would say we were not honest and deny us the BK or something.

I guess it is just tough to realize that we really don't own anything much of value at this stage of our lives. I was thinking that my great grandmother's desk I inherited might be worth a lot and I should have it appraised but my husband said you have to be kidding...it's falling apart so that's where your "value in the eye of the beholder" makes sense. I probably would not have bought this desk on purpose but it is so special because it is old and belonged to my great g'mother. If they do send someone to your house and they see something that they say is worth a lot can you just say fine, then take it if you think it is so valuable? I am also storing a bunch of gym equipment and a treadmill for my out-of-state son at our house...will I have to prove that stuff belongs to him?

[MarieT]

Just bumping this...does anyone know if they send someone to your house in Colorado? Seems from what I'm reading on here they mostly do that in Florida.

[LadyInTheRed]

Just bumping this...does anyone know if they send someone to your house in Colorado? Seems from what I'm reading on here they mostly do that in Florida.

I've been spending far too much time reading this board since November and Florida is the only place that I've read about them sending someone to your house.

[MarieT]

LadyInTheRed...(love that name!~) Thank you SO much for telling me that. The idea of someone coming to our house and going through our stuff has been really stressing me out.

[elizabethc1]

LadyInTheRed...(love that name!~) Thank you SO much for telling me that. The idea of someone coming to our house and going through our stuff has been really stressing me out.

i am in southwest florida and im am really stressed out as well.

Is there anyone on this board thats from the fort myers district that DID NOT have some one come to there house.

[MarieT]

Hi Elizabeth...sorry you are in Florida as that seems to be where they come to your house. I have decided instead of just worrying my fool head off about this, I am just going to call my attorney and ask if he has EVER seen them come to your home in Colorado. I think you should do the same thing.

It is crummy to worry about things like having some stranger go through our houses when we are already dealing with all the other aspects of BK that we have to take care of. I am an extremely private person so maybe I am over the top on this!

[scorpion35]

i am in southwest florida and im am really stressed out as well.

Is there anyone on this board thats from the fort myers district that DID NOT have some one come to there house.

what if they come?just be truthfull and u won't have to worry about it
theres nothing u can do about it

[elizabethc1]

what if they come?just be truthfull and u won't have to worry about it
theres nothing u can do about it

Thats easy to say, not so easy to do. If they say my 15 year old mattress is worth 500 dollars(like they did to my husbands friend) or put unrealistic values on things, (broken bed frame we got for free on crags list and fixed)we will have to give them to the trustee. I have no money to buy the stuff back from the trustee.

I was truthful, and I even went on criags list to see what comprobale items were selling for. But from what i've read on this site, thats not how they value things. It would have never crossed my mind, until i started reading about people that had to pay back 5,6,9 thousand dollars to keep there stuff. If that the case I will have to give it to them.
I don't have money thats why I had to clam BK

Trust me i wish i could stop worrying about this dame BK, i will se SOOOO happy when its behind me and i can move forward. i feel like I've been stuck in hell for two years

[lrprn]

Thats easy to say, not so easy to do. If they say my 15 year old mattress is worth 500 dollars(like they did to my husbands friend) or put unrealistic values on things, (broken bed frame we got for free on crags list and fixed)we will have to give them to the trustee. I have no money to buy the stuff back from the trustee.

Understand that the chances of this happening in your case are very small. But let's play devil's advocate. If the values the trustee places on your household items is unfairly high (and those values have to be *current* values, not *replacement* values), then your lawyer pushes back to get the items valued fairly. If you are filing without a lawyer, then you have to file with the court objecting to the trustee's assigned values to get the items valued fairly.

The average US household has $3-4,000 worth of household goods. If you have individually valuable items (guns, jewelry, antiques, art, etc) then you have to value those at current market value as well when the filing forms are completed. Some states protect more valuable individual assets than others.

If you are in a situation where you have valuable individual items or have unusual financial circumstances (such as owning a business) and you are thinking of filing without a lawyer, then it would be best to have an experienced, excellent bk lawyer represent you rather than going it alone.

However, if your case is straightforward without unusual circumstances and you are willing to do the hard homework and study it takes to file successfully on your own, then head over to our Pro Se (Pro Per) forum. You'll find excellent advice there.

Try not to freak out about anyone visiting your home. 99.9% of trustees take your filing forms at face value, especially when they are completed by a bk attorney respected by the court. The one time a trustee will arrange for a home visit is if something fishy pops up around the filing and the trustee doesn't feel you are being truthful. Being 100% truthful is the key to a smooth filing.