Filed & I had my 341 One week ago

[yeahknow]

My Attorney turned a deaf ear to me, like she didn't want to know but I have a question. I filed and had my 341. My 17 hr job is turning into a HUGE commission job. I will be making over $12K a month. They want to start paying me December 15th. The income will probably go higher in February. Do I have anything to worry about? I did not know last week. The company's end of year is November 30th, and I just fell into this NEW position. Now that the 34 is over and I have just 1 condition that the Trustee asked for - Can I start saving and making GOOD money?

[justbroke]

Unless the United States Trustee (UST) is asking about the new job and money, then you don't need to worry about this. You can start saving as much as you want. A Chapter 7 creates a snapshot of your financial life at the time that filed. That is what they normally look at. Unless the UST believes that you may not be deserving of a Chapter 7 discharge, the case would discharge as normal. Was the UST at your 341 Meeting?

[yeahknow]

justbroke - Yes, the UST was at the 341 meeting last Wednesday. He really just focused on that win / loss request while on the phone call. The UST never brought up my employment. I guess it's hard for me to understand that I'm just in a waiting mode until the Chapter BK is discharged and I won't hear from the UST anymore. Also, my Attorney doesn't seem to want to know that I will be earning significantly more money. Is the Attorney under obligation to notify the court? She told me we will talk next year in January when I have the requested document.

[justbroke]

As I wrote, a Chapter 7 is a snapshot of your life at the time you filed. If the (panel) case trustee or UST asked about employment and you answered that question, then they will use that to determine whether they want to take any action. Bankruptcy is strange in how it calculates what they call your "income" (currently monthly income or CMI). They look backwards in time... the lookback period. The Means Test is based on that lookback.

Generally the Trustee and UST only look to the lookback, but at the 341 Meeting the trustees have been known to ask whether you got a new job or your financial circumstances changed. If they don't ask these questions, then there is nothing for your attorney to tell the trustee (not the court). If you were in a Chapter 13, that would be different.

[yeahknow]

I might have been mistake - I'm not sure if it was the UST or a panel case trustee. The letter I received only reads Trustee and the man's name. Would this make any difference?

[justbroke]

That was likely just the panel trustee, also known as the case trustee. As for a difference, it depends on the outcome and whether the panel trustee things you made more money than you listed. But... don't worry about that right now. We say "it is what it is" at this point. Just provide any documentation required. If the UST doesn't ask for anything, that's usually a good sign that, at least, the UST is not involved.

[flashoflight]

I agree for the vast majority of cases it is income lookback or a snapshot at filing in 7s. But my opinion is that the trustee could theoretically try the "totality of the circumstances" excuse to put people into a 13 because the debtor all of a sudden can partially repay creditors. That hardly ever happens though. If the 341 already happened and you weren't asked about the increased earnings, I think you're fine.

Your lawyer has attorney/client privilege. She is under no obligation to tell the trustee or the court anything unless you authorize it.
She is also an officer of the court. She can't knowingly submit bankruptcy schedules that she knows are false or substantially misleading or get into discussions with the trustee staff and make statements she knows are false. You can ask your attorney hypotheticals like is there anything to worry about if I get a big raise after the 341.