Not listing clothing, etc., as exemptions?

[simplicityof]

If the trustee wouldn't touch some of your assets with a ten foot pole, then why exempt them?

Seriously, what will happen if my clothes, furniture, tools, pots and pans, ugly framed reproductions, are not listed as exemptions, but are listed as unprotected assets/belongings?

[bigtim6656]

wonder myself. Why take 1000 to excempt a bunch of clothes and junk. I was thinking a nice fire before I fire. Then tell them I have one pair of pants one shirt one pair of shoes. If you figured all my clothes up there worth 1k. Heck over half them are trash. i really wonder how many people claim stuff the judge will never know about. I have a few things there are no way they would know about or even be able to say I own. How in the heck woudl they know the 42 inch lcd in my room is mine or my parents as I still live at home.

[mtbc]

This is an interesting point. We're so well within our exemption limits that we're listing everything anyway and I'm not expecting them to more than glance at the schedule (though they may reasonably ask at the 341 how our liabilities are so much larger than our assets), but if they do come around our house to have a look for themselves I shall laugh heartily as they look at our boxes and boxes of what's largely sheer junk. I can't imagine they'd seriously have wanted to sell instead of abandon it all given the opportunity.

[jamesd1967]

I highly doubt that anyone will come and look at your home.

[HHM]

Sorry, it is sort of a Silly question. Is it really that much of a burden to fill in the extra box on the schedule with the exemption.

The thing is, exemptions must be "claimed", they don't attach automatically. Also, by claiming the exemption, that acts as a barrier to the trustee. If you claim an exemption, the trustee must file an objection to that exemption and get court approval to go after the asset. If you don't claim it, the trustee can just go grab it.

I have actually seen trustees be a jerk about this and set appointments with debtors (pro se) to go their houses and inventory the stuff if they did not claim the exemption.

[Pizza]

If the trustee wouldn't touch some of your assets with a ten foot pole, then why exempt them?

Seriously, what will happen if my clothes, furniture, tools, pots and pans, ugly framed reproductions, are not listed as exemptions, but are listed as unprotected assets/belongings?

The issue is really a matter of integrity. The trustee won't want to touch your cheap stuff, but leaving off, for example, clothes on a legal document (yet you won't show up to court naked) should raise a red flag and could lead to further questioning. Just list these things as they are: cheap. Honesty is king.

[SMinGA]

I was thinking about the red flag situation also. If you say you own nothing: no clothing, no household furnishings, etc. then its unrealistic. It could get the trustee's attention, and encourage him/her to dig deeper to see what other assets you failed to list.

I gave a fairly well itemized list to my attorney. For my petition he grouped much of it together into 'household furnishings, $x total with no single item valued over $300'. That's a requirement for GA - the household furnishings exemption has a total ceiling and a per item ceiling. There is also a $600 per person filing wild card but we don't need that on household furnishings.

[frogger]

There was a pro-se filer at my 341 that did not list a clothing exemption. The conversation went something like this:

Whose clothes are you wearing?
Mine.
You did not list owning any clothes.
I do own clothes.
Why didn't you list owning any clothes?
I didn't think it was necessary.
Anything else you own that you didn't list?

The 341 got rescheduled until the filer did the paperwork again.......

[MSbklawyer]

If the trustee wouldn't touch some of your assets with a ten foot pole, then why exempt them?

Seriously, what will happen if my clothes, furniture, tools, pots and pans, ugly framed reproductions, are not listed as exemptions, but are listed as unprotected assets/belongings?

It's a valid strategy if you don't have enough room under your exemption laws to exempt everything. You still have to LIST the property that you own on scehdule A or B, but you don't have to claim it as EXEMPT. If the trustee cannot liquidate it and make money, he abandons it back to the debtor.

There are some things the trustee just isn't going to bother liquidating: --clothes, pots & pans, bedding and the like as the OP mentioned. If you don't have enough exemptions, then exempt the things that a trustee could liquidate: cars, land, jewelry and the like. Offer to turn over to him the things he cannot (practically speaking) liquidate.

[Pizza]

Another thing to add that came up on the forum the other day - drowning the trustee with paperwork. The more stuff you itemize, the less the trustee is going to want to take the time to read.

I passed by the 341 meeting room while I was gathering up paperwork. There are so many bankruptcy filings that the trustee is really wanting to herd you in and out like cattle, so unless something sticks out like a sore thumb, no trustee is likely to take the time to examine every little thing you put down. It just needs to be realistic. Everything that is 'typical'... clothes, furniture, silverware, common appliances, stuff like that.

[mtbc]

The court clerk scanned my petition somewhat unreadably, judging by how it looks on PACER. I'm thinking that they might have done me a big favor: perhaps nobody on the trustee's staff wanted to have to try hard to read through it all carefully!

[DeadManCrawling]

I would still list it as exempt and a very small amount as value.

We did this and it was fine.

I believe our clothing was listed as "Clothing for two-value $5.00".

Our attorney's reasoning: The trustee would not want it, 5 bucks would not affect our overall schedule, and if the trustee DID decide to play hardball for some reason, we HAD exempted it, so the trustee would have to fight the exemption or value claimed in court, instead of saying, "Fine, I'll be over next Tuesday to pick up your clothing."

Nothing came of it and we listed most common household items similarly. The exception was electronics. Some trustees like electronics for no good reason. I guess it is the original sticker price on plasma screens and computers. Of course, they are all worthless within a month, but do have original value. Those things, we listed at around $200.00.

[jennilynn]

I think not listing it and not exempting it just calls attention to your schedules and petition. Remember, when you file them you are under penalty of perjury and you sign stating that they are true and accurate... if you intentionally leave something off, you are not accurate and they are not true. Gives the trustee and ultimately the US Trustee more cause to look at your filing and maybe audit you. Material mistatements can be a HUGE ISSUE.

[MSbklawyer]

I think not listing it and not exempting it just calls attention to your schedules and petition. Remember, when you file them you are under penalty of perjury and you sign stating that they are true and accurate... if you intentionally leave something off, you are not accurate and they are not true. Gives the trustee and ultimately the US Trustee more cause to look at your filing and maybe audit you. Material mistatements can be a HUGE ISSUE.

Sure, not listing it is criminal. But not EXEMPTING it is different. You don't have to exempt anything that you don't want to.

[Pizza]

I would just include everything. If the trustee wants my television or camera, let him go through the trouble of hauling it off, storing it, and selling it to pay the creditors $25 apiece for the proceeds. I would just turn around and get a replacement off craigslist or something, maybe cheaper than he would resell it to me for.

Worrying about these items is needless. The trustee is really just interested in high-equity vehicles, RVs, boats, rental property, timeshares, and savings accounts. If not, most people would still be better off giving up an appliance or two than to owe tens of thousands of dollars, right?

I wouldn't fret as long as nothing is concealed.