Can I keep my windfall?

[bkfiler]

I personally wouldn't inform the trustee about this until talking with an atty. Even if it was forgotten by you when you filed (not very believable), he will use it to his advantage. If it truly is exempt, then you should have nothing to worry about and should amend your filing.

i want to point out something that shocked me and ive posted on it several times before, maybe here or elsewhere regarding 'telling an attorney'.

dont do it. no no no. they are obligated to report you. never ever ask an attorney in a bk case what you should do. sounds stupid i know. but the warning is for you to realize that you can not back out of the situation once presented. they will not file your case anyother way for you.

ok, sure you might get one that doesnt give a crap. but i want you to be protected. it almost happened in my case. thank god i was posing what if questions adn through the back and fourth she happened to tell me that 'if that was the case and is the case then you need to tell me and i need to document it as such' - 'she went on to state that since i had not stated that the situation was as such and posed it as a 'what if' then thats ok.

so be careful asking the following question.

"i won a suit and didnt report it to the bk petition or the trustee, can i get in trouble."

i think it would be better to ask "lets say my friend filed bk and won a lawsuit for $2K but didnt report it..." even that is tricky.

if you think you have attorney client privs - guess again. you dont. they are sworn to present fraud to the court and will do so in a heartbeat. they do not care about you when compared to having the trustee find out that you talked to them (which might happen) and they didnt report it. be forewarned.

[SinkingFast]

I can see your point, BK.

Attnys are officers of the Court, and as such are required to disclose information when asked. They can invoke attny/client priviledge but they tend to wind up in jail on Contempt of Court charges. Judges don't much care for attnys who won't disclose something when asked. Most BK attnys don't wanna sit in jail. Our paltry $1000, $1500, whatever fee, ain't worth jail time to them.

Now if it's a high profile/celebrity, reputation building type case, that could be a different story all together.

[StaciMM]

Makes sense, BKfiler. It's not like a murder case where you can tell your attorney you did it as long as its in the past.

[bkfiler]

well let me just calrify before jimh comes and reports me to the court that what i meant to say is that while asking so many what if questions i happened to find out what would happen if i were to present information as facts and try to change it later... etc.

ok so to be clear: "I BKFiler truthfully reported all things correctly in my petition, so help me gosh".

[JimH]

Yeah, I'm keeping an eye on you Filer.

I suggest she talk to an atty before talking to the trustee or court about this - obviously this only would pertain to trying to amend or she wouldn't talk to the trustee to begin with. If she is going to amend the filing I would suggest an atty to make sure she doesn't get raped by the trustee when all she wants is to get this handled legitimately. That's what I'm suggesting.

Also, she can ask an atty questions but he is under no compulsion to report her. He just can't knowingly misrepresent the facts (lie) in court, the filings, etc. - he has to put his signature to this. In my situation, I am talking to two atty's and asking grey area questions. Another atty in the firm is handling the bk. Get it? - atty's are pretty smart about these rules too. Of course, I'm paying for all this complexity.

[bkfiler]

im glad you know what im talking about. i was shocked to learn this.

also, yes her attorney would be required to report it as soon as he thought that was the situation.

remember that every visit or communication connection with clients are logged. and he knows she may end up being found out later on by the trustee somehow possibly. he knows this. and would have to explain what the additional communication was, etc. its just not something they want to get involved with knowing the situation does exist.

and what most attorneys do, i was told (and again almost cra*ped my thong) was that they just go ahead and suggest a change in teh paperwork would be fine and ok and the preferrable route. charge extra if they need to. and file it.

the reason for this 'assurance' that its the best route is cuz hes got to report it anyway but he wont say that. also, he gets client on board, maybe gets extra money, and also gets it reported so he stays clean.

man that was sleazy. id rather be told straight out that hes got to report it.

word your questions smartly. like jimh is doing imo. you cant take it back.

maybe you can go ask your attorney what she should do?! lol now THAT would be a great help and support network.

"ok, look, i got this friend that wants to hide $25K cold cash from the trustee. is that bad? is there any way around it at all? so that means the boat i didnt, i mean, she didnt list is a potential issue as well?!"

roflmao

[PRN]

Ok, my two cents worth. I had a similar case. I had an auto accident that was settleted 2 yrs ago but we never received the final payment until this year, after we filed bk. We told our attorney, we were asked aobut it at the 341 meeting and it was still considered exempt. We finally received news today that we are discharged. Thank God and this forum for all your help. Thank you all.

[bkfiler]

glad to hear! whoo hooo!

you disclosed everything to your attorney, trustee, etc. so no problems and exemptions covered whatever the settlement was looking like it would be so no problems their either. best way to go.

sometimes the trustee even contacts both parties/attornies and talks with them regarding the case and see its status and possibel value, etc. thats how they can decide if they want to pass on it or keep the case open.

[Annika]

Yeppers, there really is a place called Ducktown, TN. I've been there, although it was years and years ago when I was a kid. Seems like it's not too far from the GA line.