Appraisal Question

[jtallerie]

I have hired a lawyer. I'm not sure if I should file chapter 13 or 7 yet, my lawyer said that I qualify for both.

I am afraid that the Trustee will send someone to my home for an appraisal, of my personal property. What are the chances of that happening. I really don't have much. But I am still very afraid!

Will an appraisor look in all my drawers to find things. All my furniture is old, purchased more than 15 years ago, and most of it was purchased 2nd hand. Will they want to take my curtains/table cloths ( I guess only valuable to me)? My 30 year old pots & pans? Will they take away my coffee maker, (when I bought it it was 59.00). Will someone think I have too much? Do they take away your kitchen table and chairs? I paid $200.00 for my kitchen table and chairs about 15 years ago (used). It is still in perfect condition. Will they check to see if the shampoo I buy is too expensive?

I have 2 teenage children and I don't want them tramatized by a stranger coming into the house and searching their rooms.

I don't have any money at all to buy anything back. I don't have money to move and I think I will be losing my home.

If I had anything worth selling I would have sold it. I just have basic personal items that we need to live.

I am just so afraid of the unknown. I do own 2 cars. Ford van 1997 used for business 190,000 miles on it and a mini van 2002 just in an accident 140,000 miles on it (poor condition). In a chapter 7 would I have to pay the Trustee for my cars? If we lose the cars we cant get to work.

Thanks for any advice.

[itsdavetime]

I have never heard of the trustee going to somebody's house. If you are in a homestead state, such as Florida, they cannot touch your house, as long as it's your primary residence. The trustee is looking for anything fishy with your filing. If they see anything out of the ordinary, they may ask questions, but there will be no surprise visits or ruffling through your stuff. They won't take your cars if it's your means of obtaining income.

Your lawyer should have explained this to you.

[jtallerie]

Thanks for your reply. I read somewhere that sometimes the Trustee has an appraisal done to see if you have any assets that the Trustee can auction off, to pay your creditors.

I'm not sure if that is just for people that have boats, fancy cars, jewlery etc. It would cost more than my furniture is worth for someone to move it and sell it.

This whole process is very scary.

[angles]

Those were my fears also until I started learning more about the process. Look at it from he trustees point of view, if he bills at $250/hour and had to sell your 140K mile car at trade in valve and only get 10% of that sale, it would not even be worth his time to do the paperwork. Worse case he may want you to "buy it back" at the trade in value, which wont be much. You can get your vehicle trade in values off of the Kelly blue book web site. And don’t worry about someone coming into your home digging through your underwear drawer to see what you have.

[gmk]

Prior to my 341 my attorney was very opinionated that the Trustee doesn't want my stuff. He didn't. As angles said, getting money out of possessions simply isn't worth it.

However, I've read many times where in Florida the Trustee will often go the appraisal route. If you have a $1mm house it likely has some recoverable stuff, so that may be why.

Also, depending on where you live, your available exemptions may cover your possessions, possibly your vehicles.

[spetkovich]

Look at it this way-- the worst case scenario is that an appraisal WOULD have to be done, though this is not certain by any means.

If that happened, appraisals are not the worst thing in the world! Let's say the Trustee requests an appraisal. The Trustee's assistant would call your attorney's office and tell them as much. Your attorney would speak with the Trustee and they'd agree on an independent appraisal to conduct the appraisal. Then, your attorney would either contact the appraiser's office himself or give you the appraiser's information and tell you to make an appointment ASAP. The appraiser would come through on the pre-arranged time and date, s/he wouldn't just show up in the dead of night unannounced.

During the appraisal, the appraiser will just walk around your home with a clipboard. S/he will take general pictures of your rooms. S/he won't dig through drawers and closets, open every closet, or search in any/every possible "hiding place" within the home. If you live in a normal-sized house, the whole process would probably only take about 30-45 minutes.

Afterwards, the appraiser will prepare a report and send a copy to your attorney and to the Trustee. This report will most likely assert that the total value of your personal property is greater than the value listed on your schedules. Don't freak out! This is just one report!

If you truly believe the appraiser's estimate is unreasonable, and have some basis for this contention (i.e. your own garage sale estimates of the property), then you can refuse to enter a settlement agreement with the Trustee and require an evidentiary hearing to prove the value of your personal property. The bad news with this is your attorney will likely require a separate retainer agreement and separate fee for this additional representation.

Short of this, you can always also negotiate with the Trustee regarding the value of the appraisal. Lets say that the Trustee says you've got $5,000 non-exempt property, and you believe you've got $0 non-exempt property. You might be able to settle for a payment of $2,000 to the Trustee, with a payment plan to pay this out over the span of, say, 1 year.

Remember, too, though, that just because an appraisal is ordered or requested by the Trustee does not mean that the Trustee wll actually come after you-- even if you are over-exempt! Lets say you've got $2,000 in non-exempt property per the appraiser. The Trustee might deem this a sufficiently nominal amount of an over-exemption such that the Trustee wouldn't be justified in spending costs (of hiring an attorney to represent him/her against you, etc.) to collect it. In this case, you'd be able to walk away even with the non-exempt assets!