Thoughts from my 341 today...

[getouttadebt]

Well, the 341 is now over and I *think* I am part of the 60-day club. We were 5th up and things started very smoothly. All the basics, State your name, address, etc. Verified all assets and debts were included in the schedules.

Then, he wanted to examine some more information from my budget worksheet. I currently participate in my company's 401k program and he actually questioned my deduction to participate in the 401k. He asked me whether or not my participation was *voluntary* to which I had to reply, "Yes". Anyone out there ever get through this process while maintaining participation in a 401k? My guess - he is eyeing this money as possible income to repay creditors?

We moved on to some other assets that we're protecting under the CA wildcard system. Not much here either -- $488 worth of some garbage stock; and some partially vested and unvested shares in my company's Stock Option Program. Again, not enough to cause a problem since we still have room to protect these assets under our wildcard.

Next, we reviewed some information on the Preferetial Payments section, but only needed to explain that a large payment was made to American Express 90-days before we filed because it was my Corporate Card account which has now been cancelled even though I was current.

He wrapped up by telling my attorney to send over an ammendment protecting the Stock Option value. And then stamped the paperwork -- anyone know in CA what that stamp says?...

Then we were out - it took about 10 minutes - and now the wait begins. I guess the next thing to happen after we file the ammendment is for him to officially declare us a No Asset, No Distribution case. How long does this take?...and what section under the PACER system should I look under to monitor any progress? They have so many links on PACER and each page is $.08 so I would prefer not to keep wasting money on unnecessary clicks.

Oh yeah, no creditors showed up as expected.

Thanks for everyone's support and I would appreciate any thoughts on my experience today at the 341 -- who thinks mine is a normal experience?...or who thinks the 401k deduction could be causing some major problems?

Regards,
getouttadebt

[PaKettle]

Your's sounds like the trustee was a little more "interested" than mine was, but maybe it's because you have a lot in your 401k and I have a little, and also that you voluntarily add to your's and I don't. Though I will now, when I can.

Anyway... once you log on to Pacer, go to Query and enter your social security number, that's all you need.

Not sure if all are the same in all districts, but assuming it's more or less the same:

In the top middle of the page there is your case # and name(s), on the 2nd line your type of bk and your trustee's name, and on the 3rd line is the date of filing and DATE OF LAST FILING.

The date of last filing is all you need to look at. If that does not change since the last time you looked it means that nothing has been added. Believe me, I go there every day hoping something HAS changed (my Discharge notice!) so I know.

If something HAS changed you can go to: Docket Report and a page comes up asking you to enter a period of time. Enter something like 1-1-08 (any time before you filed) and today for the 2nd or "to" date. That's all you need to do and then click Run Report.

A page will come up with all the Significant Entries on your case. (Again, only do this if your "date of last filing" on the Query page has changed since your last Query.)

What you see there will look something like this:

"Meeting of Creditors Held and Concluded on [your date of 341 meeting]. Trustee's Report of No Assets: Trustee of this estate reports and declares under penalty of perjury that the section 341a Meeting of Creditors has been held and certifies that the trustee has performed the duties required of a trustee under 11 U.S.C. 704 and has concluded that there are no assets to administer for the benefit of creditors of this estate. The trustee received no funds or property of the estate and paid no monies on account of the estate. Wherefore, the trustee prays that this report be approved and the trustee be discharged from office. Notes: ([-Trustee Name]) (Entered: [date this entry was entered - mine was the very next day])

The next entry below that on our's was the date the clerk or trustee entered our Addendum (because our attorney had made some mistakes on our petition which we had to fix and re-submit). It says:

"Addendum to voluntary petition , Statement of Financial Affairs with proof of service Filed by Debtor [name]". (You won't have this entry unless you submitted an addendum; most do not.)

The next 2 entries on our's are:
"Financial Management Course Certificate Filed with proof of service Filed by Debtor [my name]. (attorney's name) (Entered: [date of entry])
Then the same as above for my wife's Financial Management Course Certificate. By the way this is the financial management certificate you get for the 2nd course you take, AFTER the 341, not the first one you take before filing.

That is all that is there until you are Discharged. I ASSUME that once we are actually discharged and closed, those entries will appear here. I am anxiously waiting to SEE that!

It costs 8 cents to see this Report page.

However, if you click on the links of these entries (each entry, for example, say, the "Addendum" entry) then I would have to pay 8 cents for each page IN THAT DOCUMENT even if I only look at one of the pages. So it's okay if you want to do it once to download the page onto your computer, then you have it there for reference.

I recommend downloading any documents like your original petition and etc. just to have copies of them on file AS THE CLERKS OFFICE HAS THEM. That is, you may have a copy from the attorney, but the clerk may be missing a page or something! So get what the Clerk has entered, on pacer!

TIP: If you do use up your allotted free usage of pacer, ($10?) ($8? I forget), then use your wife's (or ?) name and atm card to start a new account and then use that so you can continue to use it for free.

[PaKettle]

p.s. I think the 401k is protected up to a certain amount. Ask your attorney. Unless you were contributing so much that it would skew your qualifying under the Means test, it shouldn't be a problem and it should be okay I think. Maybe HHM or someone who knows will chime in with the ruling on 401k's.

[getouttadebt]

Thanks, Pa, for your feedback. It's such a helpless feeling when you have joined the 60-Day Club. I will pray for you that you finally receive your long-delayed discharge. I will update the progress on my case as new information arises. Thanks again...

getouttadebt