Finally - one I can really connect with. She was HALF the cost of the last guy, who I liked, but he still was pricey. She charges $1000 if we're under the median income and an additional $500 if she has to figure expenses to get us into a Chapter 7. And she saw no issues at all with our case. Just waiting until our six month average is low enough -- got some bonuses and lost job income that we need to fall out of our average so we can qualify for a Chapter 7.
My biggest concern was with our names being on our parent's account. She said it wasn't a problem at all - as long as they weren't at banks that we had credit accounts with - which they aren't. I told her my dad was going to automatically close it when we told them, just cause I know he will, and was that going to look fraudulent. She just shrugged her shoulders and said "Never had a problem with it before. It's their money. If they want to close an account, that's their option." She asked if it was a large investment account, and when I told her it was just the checking account that they bills out of, she said it wasn't a problem at all - however the parents felt comfortable handling it, it wouldn't make a difference with our case.
She did say something that surprised me though. I've been wanting to wait possibly until January to let a $1200 payment that I had made to Mom in December fall off. She asked if I had paid her anything else since then and if my bills were all still current at the time. I told her that they were current even today --- except for my mortgage payment that I will not be paying next week. She said that she doubted they'd say a word about it. She had a client who filed last week who paid her brother $800 the month before filing, and the trustee didn't blink an eye -- so she thinks 6 months after this payment we'll have no problems. I guess worst case scenario, I pay the trustee back $1200 -- pocket change compared to what we're discharging.
Her only concern was that we may be over the $12,000 in assets that we are allowed - like maybe by a $1000 or so. Said it was our choice - sell the motorcycle (that's what is putting us over) or pay the courts $250 over four months and keep it. My husband has it up for sale anyway - just hasn't had any offers yet.
She suggested we may want to hire an appraiser for our household goods just cause we're living in a pretty big house right now, and the trustee may question the amount of assets that we claim. We're in Florida (not the dreaded Middle District- thank God!) - but she did say $300K+ houses sometimes trigger it even here. She said if you've got an appraisal already, they've always taken the value on that one. For $100, she says it is appraised fairly (garage sale prices) not inflated prices, so it might be at our advantage to do it.
At the end of our conversation, I felt totally comfortable with her and told her I had a weird question to ask her. Told about our friend referring us to their attorney who just happened to be a trustee as well, and that honestly we were still shopping around. If we spoke to this next attorney but decided to stick with her, what happens - would we stand a chance of her being our trustee? She said if we talked to her, that she would have to excuse herself from our case -- but that in reality, we probably wouldn't get her anyway. There are 2 trustees here, and this 3rd one works very part time as a trustee as she mostly works on the debtor side. She laughed and said, "She's good, but I wouldn't want to work on the evil creditor's side."
She then asked if we minded telling her who else we had interviewed - and she nailed all of them with exactly my same thoughts on them. The other guy that I liked but thought he was a little pricey - she agreed that he was good, but he's also TWICE what she charges. And then winked and said, "But my staff is ALOT nicer than his."
So, we're still going to talk to this last one who works part time as a trustee just to see - but so far, I like this one and am finally comfortable with someone. This is the first meeting that I've left feeling no worries and feel much better that we may can actually file sooner and get this over with and get on with our lives.
My biggest concern was with our names being on our parent's account. She said it wasn't a problem at all - as long as they weren't at banks that we had credit accounts with - which they aren't. I told her my dad was going to automatically close it when we told them, just cause I know he will, and was that going to look fraudulent. She just shrugged her shoulders and said "Never had a problem with it before. It's their money. If they want to close an account, that's their option." She asked if it was a large investment account, and when I told her it was just the checking account that they bills out of, she said it wasn't a problem at all - however the parents felt comfortable handling it, it wouldn't make a difference with our case.
She did say something that surprised me though. I've been wanting to wait possibly until January to let a $1200 payment that I had made to Mom in December fall off. She asked if I had paid her anything else since then and if my bills were all still current at the time. I told her that they were current even today --- except for my mortgage payment that I will not be paying next week. She said that she doubted they'd say a word about it. She had a client who filed last week who paid her brother $800 the month before filing, and the trustee didn't blink an eye -- so she thinks 6 months after this payment we'll have no problems. I guess worst case scenario, I pay the trustee back $1200 -- pocket change compared to what we're discharging.
Her only concern was that we may be over the $12,000 in assets that we are allowed - like maybe by a $1000 or so. Said it was our choice - sell the motorcycle (that's what is putting us over) or pay the courts $250 over four months and keep it. My husband has it up for sale anyway - just hasn't had any offers yet.
She suggested we may want to hire an appraiser for our household goods just cause we're living in a pretty big house right now, and the trustee may question the amount of assets that we claim. We're in Florida (not the dreaded Middle District- thank God!) - but she did say $300K+ houses sometimes trigger it even here. She said if you've got an appraisal already, they've always taken the value on that one. For $100, she says it is appraised fairly (garage sale prices) not inflated prices, so it might be at our advantage to do it.
At the end of our conversation, I felt totally comfortable with her and told her I had a weird question to ask her. Told about our friend referring us to their attorney who just happened to be a trustee as well, and that honestly we were still shopping around. If we spoke to this next attorney but decided to stick with her, what happens - would we stand a chance of her being our trustee? She said if we talked to her, that she would have to excuse herself from our case -- but that in reality, we probably wouldn't get her anyway. There are 2 trustees here, and this 3rd one works very part time as a trustee as she mostly works on the debtor side. She laughed and said, "She's good, but I wouldn't want to work on the evil creditor's side."
She then asked if we minded telling her who else we had interviewed - and she nailed all of them with exactly my same thoughts on them. The other guy that I liked but thought he was a little pricey - she agreed that he was good, but he's also TWICE what she charges. And then winked and said, "But my staff is ALOT nicer than his." So, we're still going to talk to this last one who works part time as a trustee just to see - but so far, I like this one and am finally comfortable with someone. This is the first meeting that I've left feeling no worries and feel much better that we may can actually file sooner and get this over with and get on with our lives.
12/14/10 - Filed Chapter 7, 02/09/11 - 341 Hearing, 04/14/11 - 
Comment