Trustee wants my paltry assets.. advice please !

[robivi3]

Bubbly, he wants money, MONEY. My Attorney advised me to bluff and offer him the goods. My Attorney then explained how it works, he has to PAY someone several hundred bucks to come retrieve the stuff. They have to sell it at Auction. My Attorney explained that they generally will refuse to pick up "JUNK" and they consider anything not fairly new JUNK. And the PIG still has to pay them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be ready if he calls your bluff to surrender everything. Just tell the DIRTY F-ING A**HOLE to come pick it up, that you are not giving up cash PERIOD. He may call your bluff and you may go to the last second only to find out that he backs off completely. DON"T give up ONE DIME, if you do the bastard has you and he will stick it to you BAD.

I was in this boat, he backed down. If you offer him cash he will stick you beyond belief. Tell him that you have already told him what you have, just come and pick the JUNK SH*T up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It really frosts me when they do this, I am surprised that no Trustee or Trustee Attorney has been killed by distressing people who are trying to recover and think it is over. When they get like this I'd like to shove 'em out of a car on the streets of Overtown in Miami and tell the B*TCH to walk home and then hang back and watch him be chewed ALIVE. I'm sorry, I lose it after what i went through. Even though I understand that he is not doing his job if he is not a bastard.

ONCE YOU MAKE THAT OFFER, HE WILL GATALOGUE IT ALL AND YOU WILL PAY REPLACEMENT COST. THAT"S THE LAW, NOT GARAGE SALE PRICE. DO NOT DO IT. OFFER YOUR STUFF AND IF TAKES IT, LET HIM. YOU WILL CAUSE HIM HEADACHES, PERIOD.

Do you think it will end faster when he harrasses you over the items, and he will! At least if you bluff there is a good chance he will say to hell with it. I'm not trying to be hard but once you make that offer, you will be right back in debt. He wants to jack up fees and KNOWS that you can't pay him jack right now. A Trustee is looking for a minimum $5000.00. Do you think your are going to offer a thousand bucks and walk away, you are naive, that isn't even worth his bother!!!!!!! Please reconsider.

[BassBoy]

Okay, maybe a $100 is a bit high, but I guess that's because when it comes to electronics, I stick with the high quality stuff (ie, Sony, Mitsubishi, Pioneer and those of the like). I can't remember what I paid for my DVD player, so I guess I just took a shot in the dark. Although, I don't think $100 was too unreasonable.......if it's a high-end brand.

I was trying to be a little sarcastic as well......so........don't beat up on me too much. Liek everyone here, I'm trying contribute.......when I can be.

[SinkingFast]

A Trustee is looking for a minimum $5000.00. Do you think your are going to offer a thousand bucks and walk away, you are naive, that isn't even worth his bother!!!!!!! Please reconsider.

See, that comment makes me wonder. Every attny, and I mean EVERY attny says, "Oh don't sell your truck to pay your taxes. You want to keep your truck don't you? Just set up a payment plan with the IRS." And I'm wondering why won't the Trustee just sell it and pay the IRS anyway??? At least if I sell it, I might get more money than if it goes at a Sheriff's auction. Maybe we could be sure to get enough to pay back Uncle Sam what we owe.

Only one attny gave me any kind of answer to that very direct question. He said Trustees don't like to mess with things that have liens on them. I don't know if that's true when the lien is only about 50% of the total value.

Okay, maybe a $100 is a bit high, but

I was trying to be a little sarcastic as well......so........don't beat up on me too much. Liek everyone here, I'm trying contribute.......when I can be.

I didn't mean to pick on you BB! Just I've seen them cheaper than that. I've been looking at prices whenever I'm out lately. We paid about $200 for ours 3 or 4 years ago. It's a single disc unit, Panasonic brand, and they're less than that now.

Our "stereo" is an AM/FM receiver/amplifier. We paid right at $150 for it years ago. But the speakers, they are something else. High quality woofers, tweeters, and horns custom assembled in hand made oak cases. We bought those at a technophile shop. And the sub is a high end name brand. We are old rockers. Who needs surround sound???!!!

[djk]

The only things I actually regret getting rid of were my original vinyl records and albums. I had an original copy of the Beatles' White Album on vinyl. That one is really worth something now. I had others as well. But that's another story.

cool. I've got beatles on vinyl. and a turntable. most kids today have not got a clue about LP's. oh well.

[BassBoy]

[B]We are old rockers. Who needs surround sound???!!!

You're rockers too? That genre rules! There's nothing like that old time Rock-N-Roll!

[SinkingFast]

Yep. Old rockers. Crank it up and feel the walls and floor vibrate.

[bubbly]

robivi3

Thanks for scaring the CRAP outta me ! LOL

Actually I think the "replacement value" thing is under the new law and we filled old law. I am pretty sure that old law is subject to the "fair value" or "garage sale" value idea.

[robivi3]

Bubbly, he is going to bang you if you do it. I didn't mean to be hard on you, I'm just pleading with you to reconsider. This man is to you a maggot feeding of a festering wound, and he ain't gonna heal it. I meant to come on hard, I know the panic these bastards cause when you go to the mailbox, and they know it to. He knows you are desperate for this to end. Truthfully, I would bluff and be ready for him to call my bluff, It will end sooner. I know what it is to stand literally in front of the Judge, you think you are about to get hammered and the Trustee Attorney puts away the Cell phone, walks in the glass door to the Judge and says "your honor, the Trustee abandons any interest in the ********'s assets, good luck sir, the Trustee will send you your discharge this week, congratulation", EXACT WORDS.

If you dive in his pool he is one hell of a shark, he is excellent at consuming you. Picture a wealthy human being, a building with his name on it, his Jag parked out front. He works on behalf of your creditors to sieze your assets. And then remove compassion, feeling and any sense of caring about your families welfare (that is his job, if he doesn't act like that he should be removed).

If you bargain then you are headed for a re-evalution, document, drawn out nightmare. Surrender the items, he likely won't take them. Read my previous post carefully. I had a great Lawyer, he really worked on my behalf and I felt very blessed to have been guided by God's hand to him. A scheister would have ruined me. I didn't go with price, I like a man who lays the facts out stone cold and he spent two hours listening and going over items before he was hired. I was always able to get information when i called.

When I read your post yesterday it just brought back those feelings of anger and despair. That a boot is placed on your neck and you are trying to save your family. I know that we have the best BK system in the world, but our economic/technological system demands that you be able to keep certain necessities. The old laws were written for the depression, keeping farm implements and such. Give the bastard the duct taped shovel with love and affection!

[SinkingFast]

We're looking at filing New Law and attnys are telling us to use garage sale, yard sale, Goodwill type prices for household things. They have all said, "The New Law requires fair replacement values, but where do you find a 10 year old sofa for sale? Where can you buy a 5 year old CD player?" They've specifically told us to obtain our values that way.

Collectibles are different. You gotta hunt around for them. But, you may learn as we have, that some of your treasured "collectibles" aren't really worth much at all. We have some framed wildlife prints by a lesser known, regional artist. One is even a First of State duck stamp print with color remarque, signed and numbered by the artist. We paid $800 to $1000 for that one print 20+ years ago when we bought it. I really worried about that one in particular. Finally found the First of State for sale,....... on eBay. $40. Prices for all of the others were available on eBay too. The whole lot is worth about $100. That's matted and framed. WooHoo! Our expensive "art collection"!!

[SinkingFast]

Bubbly, he is going to bang you if you do it. I didn't mean to be hard on you, I'm just pleading with you to reconsider. This man is to you a maggot feeding of a festering wound, and he ain't gonna heal it. I meant to come on hard, I know the panic these bastards cause when you go to the mailbox, and they know it to. He knows you are desperate for this to end. Truthfully, I would bluff and be ready for him to call my bluff, It will end sooner. I know what it is to stand literally in front of the Judge, you think you are about to get hammered and the Trustee Attorney puts away the Cell phone, walks in the glass door to the Judge and says "your honor, the Trustee abandons any interest in the ********'s assets, good luck sir, the Trustee will send you your discharge this week, congratulation", EXACT WORDS.

If you dive in his pool he is one hell of a shark, he is excellent at consuming you. Picture a wealthy human being, a building with his name on it, his Jag parked out front. He works on behalf of your creditors to sieze your assets. And then remove compassion, feeling and any sense of caring about your families welfare (that is his job, if he doesn't act like that he should be removed).

In going over our expenses with one attny, he pointed out some spots that may cause trouble for us. In particular, the money we spend for cigarettes. One attny had already told us, "You cannot claim that! You can certainly smoke. It is legal. But you cannot claim the expense." This particular attny pointed out the cigarette expense. I said, "Let me guess. We cannot smoke." The attny said sure we could, but,......... He went on to say the Judge, a couple Trustees, and several members of the Court all smoke. The Courthouse is a smoke free building but they have a room inside where they all smoke. They just open the window, light up, and visit with each other. But when the Trustee and Judge are in the Courtroom, hearing a case, their attitude of mind is, "You are the debtor. I am not. Your lifestyle has to change, mine does not. You are the one looking for assistance here, I am not."

That was enough to convince me when these people on the Forum who've been thru it say things like this, I listen.

The BK Court officials may be caring, considerate people in regular life. But they have a legally mandated job to do as well. Certainly not the nicest or best job in the world. But somebody's gotta do it. I wouldn't because I couldn't stand myself knowing I had robbed people beyond their last shred of dignity. But most lawyers aren't geared that way mentally, morally, or ethically. To them, it's all about the rules of the game and the fact that they have power over this particular moment in another person's life. They don't care that most BK filers have already been thru Hell and back again several times before ever seeing them in the Court. They are gonna make sure they get one last dig at you before you are released from debtor's prison.

[bubbly]

Here's another question......

Does anyone know if we make a "reasonable" offer to the Trustee and he comes back and says "Oh, no, since you supplied me with the particulars I've realized this stuff is worth $2,000 to me, not $1k, you need to make a better offer"....

Can we, at that point, tell him to stuff it, never mind, come get the stuff. Because it truly is a bunch of CRAP. The only reason we are considering making the offer of part of the scheduled value is that it is worth a certain amount to us to avoid the inconvenience of losing the stuff, of having to save all our pics, files, etc. off our old comp and wipe the hard drive prior to surrendering it, of not having a friggin' hammer, screwdriver, leaf rake or garden tools for a couple of months (it's getting close to spring cleanup and garden sowing time......). We could probably actually replace the quality of what we would be giving up for under the listed value of the old items!

We were in Walmart yesterday and priced out a bunch of the items. The lowest priced comp there has the same features as the 5 year old one we now have and costs less than half of our current total garbagey crap value of our stuff from our schedule. And the comp is the main concern as my son is on the edge at school already and if he had to actually WRITE out his papers (Oy! God forbid!!!!!!!!! LOL) his grades would probably be in the toilet completely!

We can get BRAND NEW VCR and DVD players (both!) for under $70 total. We don't have anything fancy to begin with, just basic, stick it in and play it, so that's no biggie.

Misc. tools - we've got a very old circular saw, a $20 Sears corded drill that is not variable speed and let me tell you what a PIA THAT is! LOL And we've got a few hand tools (hammer, screwdrivers, wrenches, etc.) all of which are in SH(t condition. But I'm just so MYSTIFIED that they want these items. Do they think the rusty wrenches have GOLD handles ????? LMAO

The only item we would be "sad" to lose are the CD's. We have a largish collection, built up over the last 15 years or so. Nothing special just mainstream pop & rock and a few classical and folk, etc., but we like to listen to music quite a bit while we're working around the house, etc., and it would be a bummer to have to listen to the radio (we live is a small town with a SUCKY selection of stations).

From what I've seen, CD's go for $1 or less at garage sales and maybe $2 - 3 TOPS on E-bay.

So I waffle from day to day on whether it will work better to offer some $$ up to the Trustee to avoid inconvenience (that is, after alll, what he wants.....) and hopefully get things finished quicker, or suck it up and tell him they're his and start saving to buy new. I do want this whole thing to be DONE and I don't know which choice would drag things out longer, and which choice will cost us more in legal representation. (I'm not sure my lawyer is obligated to deal with this under the terms of our original bankruptcy case payment to him). I don't know if dealing directly with the trustee would be a good idea, as I imagine there is more legal paperwork and stuff that will need to be completed whichever route we choose.

Don't 'spose anyone knows anything about that?

To robivi 3,

Did you actually go through this? You sound very vehemently opposed to offering the trustee anything. You mentioned a court situation where the trustee reneged at the last miinute, was that you? If so, can you be slighly more specific about the circumstances and whether you had an attorney, if so, what he needed to do for you and approx. what he charged?

Thanks all for all the advice and input ! :-)

Bubbly

[Jenny]

It's not illegal to resell CDs and DVDs. There are lots of stores that do it, and you can do it yourself at places like Half.com and eBay. There's no copyright violation there. The license follows the physical disk.

[FoolAndHisMoney]

This trustee is most likely bluffing! According to the chapter 7 trustee manual they're not supposed to be doing this since it's too small to matter to anyone except the trustee. Garden tools? COME ON! I would absolutely tell him to come and get it and just buy new when you can.

From the manual:

2-2.5.4 Abandonments



Page 40 May 2000


United States Trustee Manual Chapter 7 Case Administration

Property should be abandoned when the total amount to be realized would not
result in a meaningful distribution to creditors or would redound primarily to the
benefit of the trustee and professionals.

[FoolAndHisMoney]

Thanks for scaring the CRAP outta me ! LOL

Actually I think the "replacement value" thing is under the new law and we filled old law. I am pretty sure that old law is subject to the "fair value" or "garage sale" value idea.

This "replacement value" thing is under new laws and mostly applies to secured items. Old law, new law if someone has old junk it will still be burdensome for a trustee to liquidate. It just means that there will be less cram down in a chapter 13 for most secured items which will throw unsecured creditors further to the back of the line

[robivi3]

The bottom line is that he is not going to settle for one thousand or two thousand dollars. The Trustee is looking for around $5000.00 settlememnt to make it worth his while.

It is a trap, if you play his game you are headed for administrative costs, legal fees and an extension of your Bankruptcy. If you begin divulging more info he will press for more. It is likely that his first order of business will be to depose you once you let him know that you desire a settlement. You will incur your Attorney, his and the reporters fees at that point. Been through the depo, seen what could happen, rejected it, won.