So Tuesday morning I went down to meet the trustee for my 341 meeting. After stressing about it all night (and having a little too much to drink) I woke up late and felt like total crap. I was determined to pull it off though so I threw myself together, grabbed all my paperwork and sped like a demon over to the annex building where the 341 meetings are held.
Not knowing how long things would take, I opted for some all day parking and ran the 3 blocks to the entrance. Somehow... against all reasonable expectation, I managed to get there 10 minutes before my scheduled time.
Within the building, I'm pointed down a hallway to a waiting room surrounded by 5 meeting areas. At the front of this waiting room is a set of clipboards listing all the cases that would be addressed that day (as well as the several days that followed). After frantically searching for my name, I managed to find it.
Great I think to myself, it wasn't continued.
The clipboard tells me which of the 5 rooms I'm supposed to enter...
Entering the room, I see about 20 people sitting in crappy little folding chairs waiting for the trustee to arrive (my scheduled time was 8:30am). So I take a seat and wait my turn.
At 8:30 on the button a meticulously groomed silver haired gentleman enters through a side door with a large wheeled suitcase in tow. He took his seat at the front of the room and withdrew a laptop and a small cassette tape from his suitcase before setting about preparing his workspace. Once the laptop and tape recorder were ready, he dug back in his suitcase. Out came a stack of green folders, ten or so at a time, landing with a thud on the cheap folding table in front of him. When he was finished, there stood a small tower of ~40 green folders all meticulously straitened on the right side of the table.
Grabbing the first folder from the top, he opened it and called out a name. A man, a woman, and their attorney stood and shuffled toward the front of the room. When they were all seated, the trustee asked them for their drivers’ licenses and social security cards. Once they were handed over, the trustee pressed the record button on the device in front of him and he began a seemingly well rehearsed speech:
"My name is (Trustee) and this is the chapter 13 bankruptcy case of (man) and (woman). (Man) and (woman) are represented by council. I have examined their indentifying documents and verified that they are (man) and (woman)."
It struck me as odd that the trustee was not the one to which my case was assigned, but I figured maybe they took turns throughout the day...
Anyway, the trustee asked a few questions of the couple and their lawyer. Mainly it was related to their income sources, previous and current vehicles, and their home. After roughly 10 minutes of questioning, he suggested that everything looked to be in order and that they were free to go. The man, his wife, and their lawyer thanked him and shuffled out the door to the side of the room.
Down came the next green file from the stack and the process began anew.
The process repeated itself for 4 or 5 cases, then something interesting occurred. A middle aged couple and their young lawyer were called and began making their way to the ugly brown folding table. The trustee seemed to notice their attorney and welcomed him with "Ah Mr. (So and so), I heard about your exchange with (some other trustee) yesterday. Seems like it was a pretty heated exchange".
Their attorney replied, "Yes sir, yes it was. There was some difference of opinion between him and I, and I have to say it was... uhh... educational for me."
This prompted the first sign of life out of the trustee who cracked a rather amused smile. I can only guess at what the "exchange" was about, but given the events that ensued, I have grave doubts that the young attorney won the disagreement.
When the parties were seated, the trustee began the (now thoroughly boring) case introduction. However, when the question phase started, the case continued it's unique flavor:
"I'm thoroughly confused with what is going on here" the Trustee began. "You have here that Mr and Mrs. (so and so) earn a combined $10,500 a month, but when I look at Mrs. (so and so)'s paystubs, I'm seeing $65,000 over the previous 2 months. And that doesn't include the sale of her rental property at (address) OR Mr. (so and so)'s business."
The young attorney tried to counter with, "Sir, when you consider the lack of income in previous..."
"It doesn't matter" said the Trustee, cutting the young attorney short. "Her paystubs alone are $65k. It doesn't add up.
"But sir, if you.." the young attorney tried...
"$65 thousand!" Shouted the trustee.
Lowering his shoulders, the attorney acquiesced... "OK, sir, there is obviously something wrong here and I will get it fixed."
"That’s a good idea" replied the trustee. "Now let’s put that off to the side for a minute because there seems to be a problem with the expenses as well. It shows here that your claiming the mortgage payment on their primary residence with PITI is $9,400 a month, but the documents you submitted only show support for approximately $8,000. Can we assume that there was some sort of error here as well?"
I think if the young attorney could have hid under the table at this point, he would have.
"Yes sir, I think something went wrong back at my office on this one. I will take the papers back and redo them myself this afternoon."
"See that you do" quipped the trustee before turning his attention back to the middle aged couple.
"Now it shows here that you guys have made your first payment of $xxx ( I forget the figure). That’s great and you should continue doing that. Obviously, once we get the paperwork straightened out, that figure will be going up, but will get that fixed later. For now just continue making that payment."
After that little exchange, he suggested that they were free to go. As the couple stood to leave, the husband turned toward the side of the room I was sitting on and I think the look on his face will be with me for some time... The rage in his eyes was so plainly evident. The one thing I know for sure is that the conversation that was destined to occur outside wouldn't be pretty.
Anyway, after that rather interesting adventure, things settled down again. After a few more 5-10 minute cases, I began to get concerned that something might be wrong. I still hadn't seen or heard anything about my trustee and I considered that maybe I had entered the wrong room by mistake. So as the trustee began his introduction with yet another couple, I slipped out into the waiting room to check the clipboard again. There I was, room 100a... and then it hit me.
Turning to a young woman standing beside me I asked, "What day is this?"
"Tuesday" she replied. "Yes, but what is the date?"
"Today is the 10th of May."
I should probably have mentioned earlier that my case was scheduled for May 11th...
So, feeling like a complete ass I thanked here and wandered out of the room and back to my car. I called my girlfriend (who was patiently waiting for the news) who subsequently laughed at me before suggesting that at least I would know what to expect.
To make my long story a bit shorter, I'll summarize and say that I WAS better prepared the following day. I had a good night sleep and woke up on time. I made it to the annex building 30 minutes early and already knew what to expect.
When the trustee entered, he asked if there was anyone NOT represented by an attorney. As the only person in the room of 15 or so people to raise my hand, the trustee called me forward at about 8:20am. He asked me my name, about my employment and then about the last car I owned. I was so nervous that I actually perjured myself with the car but he didn't seem to mind (I said it was a 2010 and it was actually a 2008). Seemingly satisfied with my answers, he said I could look forward to my discharge in late June, early July. He just needed me to sign a statement about the paralegal I had help me with my paperwork...
"Sir, I didn't use a paralegal for any part of this process. I did all the paperwork myself." He didn't seem to believe me, but he let me check the box for "No assistance" on the form anyway. I really did do it all myself (well with a few suggestions from the resident BK genius justbroke) so I'm not sure how he could challenge it anyway...
After I signed and submitted the paper, the trustee said I was free to go. I thanked him sincerely and walked out of the room at 8:27.
As I walked to my car (where I had again paid for a full day of parking BTW), I couldn't help reflecting on the irony of the situation. The day before I watched a (presumably) expensive attorney crash and burn on a BK for his client, while I managed to get a successful discharge filing Pro Se. Needless to say, I was quite happy with the result and I am now patiently waiting for the Discharge notice to arrive.
Thank you all (and especially justbroke) for contributing to this forum. I could never have made it this far without you.
Not knowing how long things would take, I opted for some all day parking and ran the 3 blocks to the entrance. Somehow... against all reasonable expectation, I managed to get there 10 minutes before my scheduled time.
Within the building, I'm pointed down a hallway to a waiting room surrounded by 5 meeting areas. At the front of this waiting room is a set of clipboards listing all the cases that would be addressed that day (as well as the several days that followed). After frantically searching for my name, I managed to find it.
Great I think to myself, it wasn't continued.
The clipboard tells me which of the 5 rooms I'm supposed to enter...
Entering the room, I see about 20 people sitting in crappy little folding chairs waiting for the trustee to arrive (my scheduled time was 8:30am). So I take a seat and wait my turn.
At 8:30 on the button a meticulously groomed silver haired gentleman enters through a side door with a large wheeled suitcase in tow. He took his seat at the front of the room and withdrew a laptop and a small cassette tape from his suitcase before setting about preparing his workspace. Once the laptop and tape recorder were ready, he dug back in his suitcase. Out came a stack of green folders, ten or so at a time, landing with a thud on the cheap folding table in front of him. When he was finished, there stood a small tower of ~40 green folders all meticulously straitened on the right side of the table.
Grabbing the first folder from the top, he opened it and called out a name. A man, a woman, and their attorney stood and shuffled toward the front of the room. When they were all seated, the trustee asked them for their drivers’ licenses and social security cards. Once they were handed over, the trustee pressed the record button on the device in front of him and he began a seemingly well rehearsed speech:
"My name is (Trustee) and this is the chapter 13 bankruptcy case of (man) and (woman). (Man) and (woman) are represented by council. I have examined their indentifying documents and verified that they are (man) and (woman)."
It struck me as odd that the trustee was not the one to which my case was assigned, but I figured maybe they took turns throughout the day...
Anyway, the trustee asked a few questions of the couple and their lawyer. Mainly it was related to their income sources, previous and current vehicles, and their home. After roughly 10 minutes of questioning, he suggested that everything looked to be in order and that they were free to go. The man, his wife, and their lawyer thanked him and shuffled out the door to the side of the room.
Down came the next green file from the stack and the process began anew.
The process repeated itself for 4 or 5 cases, then something interesting occurred. A middle aged couple and their young lawyer were called and began making their way to the ugly brown folding table. The trustee seemed to notice their attorney and welcomed him with "Ah Mr. (So and so), I heard about your exchange with (some other trustee) yesterday. Seems like it was a pretty heated exchange".
Their attorney replied, "Yes sir, yes it was. There was some difference of opinion between him and I, and I have to say it was... uhh... educational for me."
This prompted the first sign of life out of the trustee who cracked a rather amused smile. I can only guess at what the "exchange" was about, but given the events that ensued, I have grave doubts that the young attorney won the disagreement.
When the parties were seated, the trustee began the (now thoroughly boring) case introduction. However, when the question phase started, the case continued it's unique flavor:
"I'm thoroughly confused with what is going on here" the Trustee began. "You have here that Mr and Mrs. (so and so) earn a combined $10,500 a month, but when I look at Mrs. (so and so)'s paystubs, I'm seeing $65,000 over the previous 2 months. And that doesn't include the sale of her rental property at (address) OR Mr. (so and so)'s business."
The young attorney tried to counter with, "Sir, when you consider the lack of income in previous..."
"It doesn't matter" said the Trustee, cutting the young attorney short. "Her paystubs alone are $65k. It doesn't add up.
"But sir, if you.." the young attorney tried...
"$65 thousand!" Shouted the trustee.
Lowering his shoulders, the attorney acquiesced... "OK, sir, there is obviously something wrong here and I will get it fixed."
"That’s a good idea" replied the trustee. "Now let’s put that off to the side for a minute because there seems to be a problem with the expenses as well. It shows here that your claiming the mortgage payment on their primary residence with PITI is $9,400 a month, but the documents you submitted only show support for approximately $8,000. Can we assume that there was some sort of error here as well?"
I think if the young attorney could have hid under the table at this point, he would have.
"Yes sir, I think something went wrong back at my office on this one. I will take the papers back and redo them myself this afternoon."
"See that you do" quipped the trustee before turning his attention back to the middle aged couple.
"Now it shows here that you guys have made your first payment of $xxx ( I forget the figure). That’s great and you should continue doing that. Obviously, once we get the paperwork straightened out, that figure will be going up, but will get that fixed later. For now just continue making that payment."
After that little exchange, he suggested that they were free to go. As the couple stood to leave, the husband turned toward the side of the room I was sitting on and I think the look on his face will be with me for some time... The rage in his eyes was so plainly evident. The one thing I know for sure is that the conversation that was destined to occur outside wouldn't be pretty.
Anyway, after that rather interesting adventure, things settled down again. After a few more 5-10 minute cases, I began to get concerned that something might be wrong. I still hadn't seen or heard anything about my trustee and I considered that maybe I had entered the wrong room by mistake. So as the trustee began his introduction with yet another couple, I slipped out into the waiting room to check the clipboard again. There I was, room 100a... and then it hit me.
Turning to a young woman standing beside me I asked, "What day is this?"
"Tuesday" she replied. "Yes, but what is the date?"
"Today is the 10th of May."
I should probably have mentioned earlier that my case was scheduled for May 11th...
So, feeling like a complete ass I thanked here and wandered out of the room and back to my car. I called my girlfriend (who was patiently waiting for the news) who subsequently laughed at me before suggesting that at least I would know what to expect.
To make my long story a bit shorter, I'll summarize and say that I WAS better prepared the following day. I had a good night sleep and woke up on time. I made it to the annex building 30 minutes early and already knew what to expect.
When the trustee entered, he asked if there was anyone NOT represented by an attorney. As the only person in the room of 15 or so people to raise my hand, the trustee called me forward at about 8:20am. He asked me my name, about my employment and then about the last car I owned. I was so nervous that I actually perjured myself with the car but he didn't seem to mind (I said it was a 2010 and it was actually a 2008). Seemingly satisfied with my answers, he said I could look forward to my discharge in late June, early July. He just needed me to sign a statement about the paralegal I had help me with my paperwork...
"Sir, I didn't use a paralegal for any part of this process. I did all the paperwork myself." He didn't seem to believe me, but he let me check the box for "No assistance" on the form anyway. I really did do it all myself (well with a few suggestions from the resident BK genius justbroke) so I'm not sure how he could challenge it anyway...
After I signed and submitted the paper, the trustee said I was free to go. I thanked him sincerely and walked out of the room at 8:27.
As I walked to my car (where I had again paid for a full day of parking BTW), I couldn't help reflecting on the irony of the situation. The day before I watched a (presumably) expensive attorney crash and burn on a BK for his client, while I managed to get a successful discharge filing Pro Se. Needless to say, I was quite happy with the result and I am now patiently waiting for the Discharge notice to arrive.
Thank you all (and especially justbroke) for contributing to this forum. I could never have made it this far without you.
12/06/2010 !! 
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