Post 341 questions. Savings, bank accounts, legitimate gifts.

[Pappas]

This site has been a great resource, and has answered alot of questions. Thanks to all of you posting questions and all of those that answer them.

I do have a question now that my 341 is over ( 2 days ago). My wife and I have a joint bk, no assets.

My mother has just sold her home and would like to give my wife and I $2000 as a gift. She told us about this today. This would be a legitimate straight up gift, not hidding assets or anything illegal. My mother doesn't even know about our bk, and we had no idea she was going to give us this money.

Post 341 but pre discharge, can we accept legitimate gifts? We want to open a new savings account with the money. Would opening the savings account be an issue? If not, when can we accept legitimate gifts, open savings accounts, and start saving money little by little?

Bassically, when can we be worry free about how we save, spend, and accept money. At what point can the trustee no longer go after us or look into our finances.

We just dont want to make any mistakes. Thanks for your replies in advance.

[debee]

The bankruptcy code has a special section that talks about "property of the estate". The property of the estate is made up of all the assets that the trustee administers. It includes almost everything that you have at the time of your filing, and a few things that you don't have but might get. Inheritances, life insurance proceeds, proceeds from a lawsuit that you were entitled to file prior to filing bk, etc are examples.

Gifts are not on the list. You are free to accept the gift and you do not have to report it to the trustee.

[Pappas]

Ok, so for the sake of argument, I accept my mother's gift, and then open a savings account. I put in the $2000, and any little bit of money my wife and I manage to save over the next few weeks. The trustee gets wind of this (not sure how, but lets just say) and starts asking questions.

Would expalining to the trustee the whole proscess about the gift being after the 341 clear everything up, or would i have to go to some hearings, and meetings and have to explain myself for the next 6 months.

Also, aside from the inheritance, life insurance, and lawsuit, monies, is there a limit to how much money i can make before i tell the trustee. Lets say I get drafted into the NFL and get a 20 million dollar contract tommorow. Do I have to tell them, and does it make a difference in my bk? I don't have any job offers, but i just want to be prepared if i do.

[debee]

You won't be asked because the trustee already knows you are entitled to receive (& keep) gifts you receive after your 341. But if you were asked, you would say it was a gift from Mom and that would end it. The date you rec'd it would be the date on the check, or the date of deposit if you were given cash.

You don't have to report any earned income post 341. Here is a thread that discusses earnings post-341. It might help you to read it: http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.ph...fore-discharge

Here's the section of the code that deals with property of the estate. Inheritances within 180 days of filing, and so on: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/us...1----000-.html

If there is no fraud in your case and we're only talking about a 2K gift from Mom, you have NOTHING to worry about.

[Pappas]

I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this.

We went into this proscess with the intentions of doing everything by the book, so we wouldn't have anything to worry about. But sometimes figuring out what's allowed and what's not is not so simple.

We just didn't want to make a mistake and accept money we could just as easily refuse, and create a big mess. $2000 (legit or not) is just not that worth it if it meant getting into trouble.

We will be opening our new bank account on Monday.