Shipping property to another state

[Peeps]

Hey all,

Quick question: do you think a trustee will find it disturbing if I start packing books and rocks and sending them to another state?

Here's the background: Getting ready to file Ch. 7 in a month or two. The value of the book and rock collections are both covered by the exemptions in my state. In fact, I'll easily be a no-asset case. So anyway, my parents are in the process of buying a condo where I can stay while until I get my feet back on the ground. I doubt I'll move up there until fall 2011 at the earliest, myself. As long as the books & rocks are listed as my property, does it matter if I've shipped them up north in preparation of moving? I just want to start sending them out because it's a huge pain in the (you know what) to deal with small stuff like that in a cross-country move. I can always have them shipped back if needed.

I just don't want to look like I'm trying to hide stuff. I know it's probably a small detail but I'd sure hate to underestimate what a trustee might think.

Oh, ps... I'm not transferring ownership. They're still mine but will just be in the care of another until I move myself.

[free2breathe]

I don't think it will be an issue, Peeps. On schedule B you list the property, and the next column asks you to state the description and location of the property. You could just list the address where they are. If there is a question, you simply state they are being held in storage for you by your parents.

[debee]

How do you value a rock collection, Peeps? Do you get the specimens appraised? Just curious.

[Peeps]

Garage sale: 25-cents for the lil' ones, $1 for the big ones. Spent a lot more for them a long time ago (they were shiny and pretty and I had plenty of money back then) but I guess that doesn't really matter now. It's a pretty amateur collection so I really doubt they'd sell for anything at a garage sale (or ebay) actually. Funny, I lost my urge to collect them right after having to pack and move them to my current home. Really not looking forward to moving 'em again. A feather collection sure would be a lot smarter.

[Peeps]

Thanks F2B, I haven't had to do the schedule B thing yet so that little piece of info really helps clear things up!

Honestly, if the trustee wants this stuff, he/she can have it... I'd love to watch them straining a muscle or two while hauling it away! I just want to be sure all the Ts are crossed when I do the paperwork combthrough. If I wasn't OCD before this, I bet I'll be afterwards!

[Peeps]

Just a quick update - so the thread can be complete if anyone else happens to have a similar question somewhere down the line:

Got a well-thought PM from one of our very illuminated forum members and on second thought, I don't think I'll ship 'em out. There's a lot to be said for just listing them on Schedule B. There's also a possibility a trustee might ask for an appraisal (because there are some complexities with my overall BK) so I think I'm just gonna play it safe and keep those things right here where everyone and their brother can take a look if they want!

Thanks to everyone for the ideas and input. Learned a lot on this little question. Hopefully it helps someone else in the future, too.

[dneil]

I am sure that is also a smart financial move since rocks can be heavy.... lol, the shipping bill probably would have been pretty expensive

[Peeps]

Oh they ARE heavy. LOL you ain't-a-kiddin'. I stopped collecting them right after I had to move them for the first (and so far only) time myself. I spent a month asking myself: what kind of moron collects rocks for pete's sake?? This kind of moron, I guess! Next time I decide to collect something it will be feathers or cotton balls that resemble the Virgin Mary. But that great USPS Flat Rate shipping is an awfully tempting option. I just didn't want to deal with them with a big move but now... well... fine, I'll deal with them in a big move. The more, the merrier.

[tcreegan]

Hi Peeps,

No law about moving during a BK, we moved to a new town, not a problem. Only posts I have seen where the trustee sent out an appraiser were in Florida. Even then, for an everything-exempted, no-asset BK, a couple pics should be enough.

I hear you on the pain of moving, for us it is books...too old school, I like having a personal library.

Tom in Colo

[dneil]

Don't feel bad.... Every time we go to Lake Michigan (which is only 15 minutes from my home) my son and I end up picking a bunch of rocks to take home. My son always grabs the largest ones he can find. LOL I usually 'chuck' them out into my rock garden and deal with him yelling at me for it. I wouldn't mind him having them in his room but he likes to leave them where I stub my toes or have to move them to vacuum. He is 15 and sometimes a lot more than I can handle. I guess I should be glad they are rocks and not animals he brings home. My husband does that to me (animals). I sent him out for groceries and he came home with a dang GOAT! Yes, you read that right. He felt the goat would be good for our daughter as a pet and as a walking fertilizer. ugh, last I knew, a deck to my front door doesn't need fertilizing. Seems every time I have company coming the stupid goat "fertilizes" the deck and then "I" have to go sweep it all off.....

lol, I am off from my tangent. (note to self, explain to 4 year old that those little round things are not rocks) LOL

[BROKEDED]

Moving SUX!!! That is truly our biggest motivation for staying in the house as long as we can...not the shame, or embarassment of losing your home or any of those stereotypes. It ranks right up there with painting, for me. When we bought our house, we thought we had packed pretty good and figured all the miscellaneous stuff would be pretty easy to move. After a couple of 26 foot moving truck loads we just started tossing stuff and headed for the landfill. We dumped 1600 lbs of junk.

I don't think 1600 lbs of feathers would have made it any easier though! haha

[Peeps]

I understand completely. I seem to have collected more books than I'll ever read in this lifetime. I was thinking maybe I should ship those, too. But they can wait. Or you're certainly right... pics would probably do the trick. It's not like the books first editions or anything special. Just a bunch of "gotta haves" that were displayed so temptingly in the Barnes & Noble aisles. Darn those BN devils!!

[Peeps]

Alrighty, you've got me beat hands-down with the goat. I'll just thank my lucky stars that I don't have to explain THAT to a trustee.

I did once have to explain to a 60-year-old man that the gemstone he had picked up at the base of Dinosaur Ridge in Golden CO was NOT a rare find. It was a lovely pink lumpy thing. And as he held it reverently in between his thumb and forefinger about two inches from his nose... I had to inform him that it was a piece of petrified, chewed-up, spit-out bubblegum. Not nearly as good as little round non-rocks from goats. But he still jumped about two feet in the air while flinging the pink gem somewhere into the rocks for yet another prospector to find. Collecting rocks isn't as boring as it seems on the surface, at least sometimes.