6 months Since Filing and no Discharge???

[angles]

I am not sure how to even ask this because its all speculation on my part but is it normal to take 6 months to discharge a case? OK, I know everyone is behind and that would be my first response if someone else posted the question but 6 months since filing seems a little ridiculous. I called the court in Nov for an update and the person on the phone said everything was there and I should be discharged "any day now". So I wait until the New Year, call and find out that they are missing the final report from the Trustee. What does the final report exactly contain? We are an asset case (or should be) so I expected a letter to this effect but nothing to delay a discharge. We have not received any paperwork since filing. I sent our attorney an email asking for an update but thought I would check with some of the experts here.

Just to add…from a creditors standpoint, a delay is costing more money and there will be less for them to recover. Does not seem right for them or for us. Any suggestions, reasons???

[tobee43]

personally, if it were me, i would push your atty hard....REALLY hard to find out what the scoop is...after all you paid the firm to do a job...and even tho you are an asset case, you most certainly should have heard something by now....

[angles]

Thanks Tobee. We shot off an email and our attorney responded by the next morning. We were pleasantly surprised at the response since all previous communications took at least a week before we would hear anything - and we don’t bother them unless its absolutely necessary. Our attorney called the Trustees office and left a message for his assistant. Apparently the assistant is out due to the holidays so we are on stand by. Hopefully we will hear something back this week.

This raises some questions. What would be the reasons for a trustee to delay the discharge? If there was a problem with our case I expected the objections to happen within the timelines following the 341 meeting.

[hhyakfish]

Wow. I thought it was only my case that was delayed. I'm also in California (Orange County) and it has been 260 days since the 341 hearing. Pacer has been showing up as "Awaiting Discharge."

[justbroke]

It may be District-specific, but I've never seen a Trustee hold up a discharge when the District uses the "auto-discharge" feature in CM/ECF (PACER), unless... there are flags on the case that the Trustee put on there to prevent an auto-discharge. There are other flags as well, such as Debtor Education that can prevent an auto-discharge. Even in an asset case where a No Distribution report is not filed, the discharge should still come without delay (after the 60 days).

So, in this particular case, probably waiting on the Trustee due to a flag being on your case. Do you have access to PACER? If so, what are your flags?

[chazdiezal]

which part of pacer do you check for flags?

[screentest]

I am in the same boat and also in Southern California (Riverside District.) I am 140 days post the 341 date and have heard nothing from the court. There is a flag (707b) still attached to the case that has not been cleared otherwise there has been no activity since the report of no distribution and my status is frozen at awaiting discharge.

My attorney states they have called the clerk and have gotten no help or explanation from them and the only thing the clerk will tell me is "Check Pacer."

I am also worried something has gone wrong and the shoe will drop any day now.

ST

[justbroke]

which part of pacer do you check for flags?

Under Case Summary. There will be a section simply labeled "Flags:"

There is a flag (707b) still attached to the case that has not been cleared otherwise there has been no activity since the report of no distribution and my status is frozen at awaiting discharge.

With the 707B flag on there, that's going to hold the case since 707b is the flag for a presumption of abuse. Your attorney should be calling both the Office of the United States Trustee (OUST), and the Panel Trustee for that flag, since it's an ABUSE flag.

[screentest]

Thanks JB,

I am sending my attorney an email right now reference getting this flag cleared.

ST

[angles]

hhyakfish, 240 days??!! I guess I need to quit complaining and that’s got to be driving you nuts.

We received a follow up email back from the attorny and he said that it is normal to take 6 months or so after the 341 for a discharge. This is because the courts are backed up along with the furlow days/cut backs. I specificily asked him if there was anything listed on PACER that may be an issue and he said nothing is listed, that we are fine. Thank you everyone for the responses, I guess we will continue the waiting game.