Thanks to all who have shared their 341 stories here, I was better prepared for my hearing because of it. Perhaps if enough folks share their stories here and the mods think the idea has merit they will make this thread sticky. The 341 is the first and sometimes only official contact folks have with the system. It seems to be a source of anxiety for most. Here's my story...
I went to the courthouse in St. Louis early to avoid parking problems and made my way to the room listed in the letter from my trustee. I sat there for about half an hour with about 10 fellow early birds. The waiting room was small, all seats were taken.
At about quarter to my lawyer arrived and she validated that I had my drivers license and social security card. We reviewed a short form that she later gave to the judge. She also reviewed the questions that the judge would ask and the answers that I would give her. They opened the door to the courtroom while we were talking, so I went in and sat down.
My lawyer and the judge chatted about the trustee's whereabouts. It turns out that they were having the C7 meetings elsewhere in the courthouse and that was where he was at - he would not be at the C13 meetings. And the 10 early birds turned out to be all of us. So far so good.
My lawyer was talking with the judge when she brought things to order, so I was first to go. She swore me in and took my license and social security card and then went thru the questions my lawyer had ran me thru earlier - all yes/no questions, stuff like have you filed your taxes and stated your income correctly, etc. After going thru the form questions, she had a couple bonus questions for me:
YTD income looks high compared to annual rate, why is this? I had a bonus in Jan that makes it look high. She asked how much the bonus was and my lawyer was Johnny on the spot with the number.
I sold stock in 2007, was this used for living expenses? I thought about launching into a robbing Peter to pay Paul story and thought better of it. I just said yes and she nodded ok.
That was it. The whole thing took maybe three minutes. She played a tape recording that explained how the trustee has two people opening the payments and a third person validating the other two. I got the impression they were discouraging people from claiming they made a payment when they didn't. After the tape recording the judge said goodbye and good luck. End of meeting.
I went to the courthouse in St. Louis early to avoid parking problems and made my way to the room listed in the letter from my trustee. I sat there for about half an hour with about 10 fellow early birds. The waiting room was small, all seats were taken.
At about quarter to my lawyer arrived and she validated that I had my drivers license and social security card. We reviewed a short form that she later gave to the judge. She also reviewed the questions that the judge would ask and the answers that I would give her. They opened the door to the courtroom while we were talking, so I went in and sat down.
My lawyer and the judge chatted about the trustee's whereabouts. It turns out that they were having the C7 meetings elsewhere in the courthouse and that was where he was at - he would not be at the C13 meetings. And the 10 early birds turned out to be all of us. So far so good.
My lawyer was talking with the judge when she brought things to order, so I was first to go. She swore me in and took my license and social security card and then went thru the questions my lawyer had ran me thru earlier - all yes/no questions, stuff like have you filed your taxes and stated your income correctly, etc. After going thru the form questions, she had a couple bonus questions for me:
YTD income looks high compared to annual rate, why is this? I had a bonus in Jan that makes it look high. She asked how much the bonus was and my lawyer was Johnny on the spot with the number.
I sold stock in 2007, was this used for living expenses? I thought about launching into a robbing Peter to pay Paul story and thought better of it. I just said yes and she nodded ok.
That was it. The whole thing took maybe three minutes. She played a tape recording that explained how the trustee has two people opening the payments and a third person validating the other two. I got the impression they were discouraging people from claiming they made a payment when they didn't. After the tape recording the judge said goodbye and good luck. End of meeting.