Chap 7 Asset case that is taking forever to discharge.

[Backlyn]

12-4-09 341 meeting
12-30-09 objection of claims
5-4-10 Notice of change to asset case fixing claims bar date
5-26-10 stipulation filed
7-20-10 approval of stipulation

Status: Awaiting discharge and trustee's report 302 days!

Assets were surrendered in early June 2010.

My attorney is paid in full and "did his job" now we sit in limbo hell. Atty isn't returning my phone calls or e-mails and I called the trustees office and was scolded for even contacting them as I have an atty. I did get out of one clerk though that my husband's motorcycle didn't sell yet that he surrendered in June. She also said "the trustee doesn't hold up your discharge". I have a personal injury lawsuit from 9-06 that will probably never go anywhere and the trustee has listed my atty for that case in the estate.

What is typical discharge time in an asset case? What can be holding it up? We would love to look at refinancing our mortgage, probably a long shot but we are stuck until at least discharge correct?

What a long drawn out nightmare!

Thanks for any input.

[dspii]

The discharge is the important date, and most likely in your case, just overlooked. I believe by law, you discharge 60 days following your 341, call your lawyer and let them get it discharged. Pacer should show any documents that may be keeping it open, but I would have assumed that you would have known about them...cause they would be "nasty grams" for sure. I'd put your lawyer on speed dial until it's discharged.

Your case will be open for a while, but discharged, if the assets have not been sold and closing can be bothersome if you "possess" assets you want to get rid of...cause they still belong to the estate. It took all of a year to finally close my case and all I had to give them was my 2009 tax check.

[backtoschool]

Check my signature. Asset cases take time. But closing doesn't matter, it's the discharge that matters, as dspii says. In an asset case, creditors have to file claims, assets have to be liquidated, checks have to be sent to creditors and the creditors have 90 days to cash the checks. All of this has to be done before the trustee can write his final report.

[Backlyn]

Not to sound stupid but how can my lawyer get it discharged? Also even though my personal injury lawsuit was listed when I initially filed and the trustee "hired" my PI atty, he agreed to accept $1K and a motorcycle as settlement for our assets. Does this eliminate his hands getting on any potential settlement?

Thanks for any help!

[AngelinaCat]

You need to call your case worker at the courthouse tomorrow, and find out what is going on. Yes, you may be scolded for calling because you have an attoney. We were also. But we called, because our attorney would NOT return our calls or otherwise communicate with us.

In fact, our trustee's office ended up calling us, because the deadline for an offer made to us regarding preferential payments made to a certain creditor was running out, and they had NOT heard from our attorney either!!!! We ended up negotiating our own settlement.

Good luck to you; let us know how it works out.

[AngelinaCatHub]

The Mrs asked me to put my two cents in. We went way over what our discharge date should have been, even with all the extenstions of time that was granted ahend all. Eventually, in August 2008, I called the clerk of the Bk court and talked to our caseworker. She informed me that our case was over and done with, except that the trustee needed a copy of our marriage license in the file. WHAT??? We took a copy of it with us to the 341, as previously instructed, only to be told by the trustee that "he didn't need it." Duh? Apparently he did, because once that was faxed over and uploaded by our useless attorney's office, we were discharged that day.

As BTS suggested, get a look at my sig, to get an idea of our journey. We filed 12/28/2007. Good luck, 'Hub

[Backlyn]

Well I called my atty this morning and left a very stern message that I wanted a call back today on my discharge status and low and behold I got a call back, granted from the secretary but she had info. She told me that our case cannot be discharged until the sale of my husband's motorcycle (average Honda nothing high end). I understand how that would come into play for closing but for discharge? She swears there is nothing anyone can do about it until that bike is sold. We dropped it off in early June, we live in PA. If it didn't sell all summer, what are the odds of it selling in the winter???? For all I know it is probably laying in a garage somewhere and nothing was even attempted with it. I can't even believe this. Is there no recourse when the trustee drags his feet?

[justbroke]

Something sounds wrong. The discharge has nothing to do with "liquidating" assets at all. The discharge comes as quickly as possible after the 60 days following the first scheduled 341 Meeting of Creditors. That's it. The only way a "discharge" can be dragged on is if the Trustee or creditor files a motion to extend the timeline to file a complaint to determine dischargeability, and has cause. I don't see that any such motion was filed.

Additionally, if this is just the closing of the case... who cares? The close is an administrative act and it is true that until the bankruptcy estate is settled, the case will not close. However, it's the discharge that is important to the debtor.

Again, the Trustee can't stop the discharge without a motion to extend deadline. If the discharge didn't come after 60 days, there is some other "administrative" issue. Check PACER. Check the flags. Make sure you are in compliance with education and everything else. A quick call to the case manager will usually reveal the issue, as Mr. 'Hub wrote.

[Backlyn]

The discharge is what I want, ideally to have it all behind us but I want a discharge already. This is my status with flags

Nature of debt: consumer
Pending status: Awaiting Discharge ,Awaiting Trustee's Report
Flags: CREDS, MEANSNO

The lawyers secretary said there is nothing the courts can do with this either until that asset is sold. Maybe PA BK is different????? I am SOOOOO flipping confused.

[ccsjoe]

I think what's holding you up is the "Awaiting Trustee's Report". If your attorney doesn't do it, you may want to call the court clerk to see what really is the hangup. jb is beyond correct in that selling an asset will not prevent a discharge from being issued, merely prevents the case from being closed.

[justbroke]

It's the Trustee's Preliminary or "No Distribution" Report that is holding up things. However, you are just in the "interim" period and you will get your discharge! No creditor can even file a complaint now to challenge dischargeability, and that includes the Trustee. Unless you committed some sort of fraud upon the court.

[Backlyn]

So should I try to call the caseworker or not yet? Doesn't the trustee have to abide by a deadline on this for discharge? I know closure is separate but how long can the man let it go?

[justbroke]

The law reads that the discharge should be entered forthwith. Forthwith means, without delay. So, 11 months is TOO MUCH delay for entry of the discharge order. Since your attorney is being lazy, then you should call the Clerk's office -- not the Judge -- and find out what's holding up the discharge. Be very polite, courteous and ask if you can ask a "procedural question". If the Clerk tells you that the Trustee's interim report is missing, then you (directly or through your attorney) need to nudge the Trustee.

[backtoschool]

Something sounds wrong. The discharge has nothing to do with "liquidating" assets at all. The discharge comes as quickly as possible after the 60 days following the first scheduled 341 Meeting of Creditors. That's it. The only way a "discharge" can be dragged on is if the Trustee or creditor files a motion to extend the timeline to file a complaint to determine dischargeability, and has cause. I don't see that any such motion was filed.

Additionally, if this is just the closing of the case... who cares? The close is an administrative act and it is true that until the bankruptcy estate is settled, the case will not close. However, it's the discharge that is important to the debtor.

Again, the Trustee can't stop the discharge without a motion to extend deadline. If the discharge didn't come after 60 days, there is some other "administrative" issue. Check PACER. Check the flags. Make sure you are in compliance with education and everything else. A quick call to the case manager will usually reveal the issue, as Mr. 'Hub wrote.

I totally agree with Justbroke. Discharge is typically not delayed in an asset case. The selling of the motorcycle would affect your case closing, and would not affect your discharge in my opinion.

Things that could affect your discharge are:

1. Not finishing your debt counseling coursework.

2. The trustee or US trustee have evidence of fraud or "bad faith" or some other reason to throw out the case. (very rare and you would know about that already. I do not think this is what is going on in your case)

3. Court clerks are backed up due to volume of filings.

I would assume the secretary might be getting the words "discharged" and "closed" mixed up. The secretary is not a lawyer and may not understand the subtle difference between the two words. My guess is that the secretary means "closing". In answer to ccsjoe, the trustee typically does not file a report right away in an asset case.

The trustee not filing the report should not be holding up the discharge, but would hold up the closing of the case, ie the case would not close until the final report is filed by the trustee. I had the status "awaiting trustee's report" until my case closed many months later. Usually that flag goes away when the trustee files the interim report. The trustee files two reports in an asset case, the interim report, and the final report. The interim report will list the assets being claimed. The final report will list the payouts, and how everything was distributed.

[Backlyn]

I would like to announce after finally getting a hold of our court administrator today via e-mail that our case was DISCHARGED instantly, without any explanation as to why it was in limbo so long and is in PACER as discharged!!!!!!

I thank you all for your advice and I especially thank Just Broke for painstakingly directing me in how to find my administrator. Is a discharge alone good enough to be able to look at a refi on our mortgage or do we have to await formal closure. Gosh at this rate with my trustee it could take a decade!