341 concluded...trustee caught a few people though

[ApresMoi]

I bet that he looked at google earth or the property tax aerial shots to see the type of vehicle in the driveway.

OMG, how bizarre. Next up...a full body scanner. :-)

[tigergem]

I was guessing the trustee lived in the same neighborhood and probably drives right by that house every single day on his way to/from work. And the thing parked in their driveway was probably a really fancy thing that attracted attention.

[lookinupn09]

Trustee's are people too. Many are practicing attorneys. Perhaps they lived in the same neighborhood.

Right, it is possible. Do you know what is protocol for the trustees to do to search or investigate prior to the 341? I have not seen that info on this board, and I'm sure most people would like to know that information, if it is visible in any way.

[justbroke]

Right, it is possible. Do you know what is protocol for the trustees to do to search or investigate prior to the 341? I have not seen that info on this board, and I'm sure most people would like to know that information, if it is visible in any way.

Of course most would like to know. I would assume that each Trustee has different techniques for finding property. One of the key ways, is just to send one of your staff by your home, when you're not expecting, and take a few pictures. Also, as mentioned earlier, a Google Earth snapshot, could prove interesting.

Then there are the standard ways to find things. Registry of Motor Vehicles, tax records, etc. Credit card statements can hold a lot of information as well. Then there is your income tax return which yields much of this information. Your return has all sort of nuggets, because most people want to get a refund, so they tend to list everything they own in order to get credits.

Some Trustees, in South Florida, have been known to perform "home" audits on everyone. (I can see the reason in Flroida, because we have a lousy "wildcard" exemption for everything which is only $1,000. This doesn't include the car exemption of $1,000. So, you have to fit all your personal property -- like household items, clothing, etc -- into this dismal exemption. If you don't have a home, you can claim a $4,000 unused homestead exemption, so that helps in most cases.)

[lrprn]

Do you know what is protocol for the trustees to do to search or investigate prior to the 341?

Trustees (really, their staff members ) review every filer's forms looking for anything out of the ordinary. Are the listed expenses in line with the required amounts? Are the expenses listed reasonable for and in line with their local neighborhood? Does the gross income declaration match up with the provided paystubs? You get the idea.

Basically then there's lots of number crunching to ensure the math has been done correctly.

Since the trustee's staff do their forms review all the time day after day after day, they can spot things that are outside the norm for their local court pretty quickly. Usually these questionable areas will be tagged for your trustee to ask about during your 341.

Trustees and their staff members also look for evidence of bankruptcy abuse (hiding assets, primarily) and any other signs you are lying to the court. Again, they've seen it all. It can be done, but honestly it's tough to get much by these folks. The very small % of outright bk abusers who deliberately falsify their forms don't get away with it very often.

[jribe]

I thought it was strange too,

the people were not happy about being asked about it

it's usually a tip-off from a neighbor or someone else that knows about the BK. Google earth data is typically older, so that's not as likely.

[forgotten]

At my 341 the trustee asked the lady in front of me, "Do you own a 2007 Chevrolet Monte Carlo?". She said "no, I got rid of that like 4 years ago".

I'm sure you see the issue... a 2007 vehicle she got rid of 4 years ago? After a little back and forth it turns out that she does still own it but her son drives it now so she didn't feel the need to list it anywhere on the petition.
She had an attorney who started to apologize saying he had no idea about the vehicle either. The trustee said he said he was going to recommend her case be dismissed.

Other people probably talked about me too though when the trutsee made note of my excessive debt, he said "$321k unsecured according to your petition". I didn't see it, but my wife said jaws dropped with blank stares from the rest of the people there waiting. At least I wasn't hiding anything!