My 341 story.
My wife and I woke up very early (5:30) for our meeting. It was in downtown Los Angeles.
It was a very calm morning. There was a pretty thick marine layer, with cool weather. A start to a very nice day!
After we dropped our child off to summer camp at 6:30 AM. We made our way to the 341 meeting. This was held in a building known for being an accounting firm. Ernst Young to be exact. Not a court house that I imagined.
Everyone seemed very nice. The security told us exactly where to go. We were a part of the 8:00 AM meeting that had approx 10 filers. We were 2nd to last. There were not as many people there as expected...no children at all. A few people seemed nervous, most others pretty calm. My wife seemed ok, but I knew she was a bit nervous. As for me well, for some reason I felt great. Not nervous at all, even leading up to the meeting. It was interesting watching some of the lawyers coach their clients in the waiting area outside of the meeting room. One attorney seemed to have quite a bit of clients. He later boasted to another attorney of how busy his office is, and how he had 26 cases last month. They spoke loud in the meeting before the 341, as if they wanted everyone to hear.
So...the trustee intoduced herself. I heard she was old...she didn't seem to be as old as I thought. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with Zacky Farm chicken radio or TV commercials...but Lillian from Zacky Farms reminds me of the trustee for some reason. She spoke calm and seemed to be very nice.
She started with the first client. Very simple standard questions. She later asked if there were any creditors there for the client. Nobody, and said have a nice day.
The interesting cases I saw leading up to mine was a lady who manufactured high end handbags. She and her attorney showed up, but didn't expect to have a meeting because there was somethign that they forgot to bring. The trustee invited them to still have the meeting and follow-up with whatever it was in a month. They agreed and sat down. The trustee asked the standard questions and then asked about any add'l inventory or handbags that are out there. The lady replied that approx $30,000 in inventory was being held by two or three vendors who would not give it back. She also mentioned that she is staying with her mom and her mom is currently supporting her.
Anyhow, all seemed well until the trustee began to conclude the meeting. She asked if there were any creditors, and to the young ladies surprise one stood up. The lady turned red and took her bottle of water and took a long drink from it. The trustee invited the creditor to come forward, introduce herself, and have a seat in front. The creditor only asked one question, I assume all others were asked by the trustee. She asked: "I see that you are still selling your handbags on the internet, how many do you have left?"
I felt so embarrassed for her at that point. That creditor seemed to have blown a whole in her testimony to the trustee. Now I assume the trustee will dig deeper.
As I mentioned all of the meetings seemed to have gone very well. Until she got to me.
I have a 1.5 million dollar petition that is mainly business debt.
After all the standard questions, she asked if I knew what amount of my petition on shedule F was for business debt. I mentioned that I believe it's over $700k. She seemed to have agreed. Why she asked...I don't know. Maybe it was a precursor for her next question. She shuffled some papers and went straight into my properties. She asked if I owned any other properties other than the three I have, I said no.
(The biggest issue of my petition is property that I hold "BARE LEGAL TITLLE" to that is my parents. This property was placed in my name at 20 years old. I was a college student at the time. Why was it placed in my name, I have no idea. My parents had a lot of property then, I assume they didn't want too much in their names. This property is special to the family, but literally is not mine.)
The trustee went straight into that property. My attorney knew it would happen, and warned me before hand that it would become a fight. I coldn't believe it though.
She knew of the memo that my attorney prepared about the property, and how he explained in full detail of how it is not mine. She seemed to ignore it, and said she had a realtor look into the property and said it was worth $36k. We said it was worth $52k in the schedule. NOW I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK!
My attorney jumped in, and that's when the fireworks started. He explained the memo, and she cut him off and said "OH, I read the memo. I have to do what I have to do. Now they need to figure out if they want to buy it back or not." Then she looked at my attorney, and pointed to us and said loadly "THEY GOT A GIFT!" (Mind you, we weren't married at the time of transfer, both in college.)
The trustee seemed to turn into what we all imagine trustees are like before attend the 341 meeting. I feel like she really stuck it to me, and only me because she did that with nobody else.
Questions:
1. Do you think she is pissed due to my amount of debt in my petition? She asked if I knew how much was business debt before jumping into taking my parents property away.
2. If we showed her proof that teh county says the property is worth $52k, and she says no....lower at $36k...should that mean she wants to make a deal with me personally and lowered it to $36k? I would think that she would play the game and keep it at what I said.
3. I believe I am the poster child for what BARE LEGAL TITLE IS in Bankruptcy cases. My parents have always paid the taxes on the property...even to this day. My dad has been renting some of the mobile homes on the property and pockets the money. They put it directly into his checking account every 3 mos or so. The property tax bills are mailed directly to him out of state w/ my name on them ofcourse. He takes care of the property because it is his property.
4. I need some opinions if you don't mind.
I was thinking to remove my $20k in exemptions to the cover the property. I would then have a $16k balance that I can't pay or afford. I can pay an attorney ...what $2500 hopefully less to help me prepare an answer to her petition to take the property. I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I just know that we can't lose this property for a number of reasons.
(My parents found this property in the high desert in CA 20 years ago. in 1990 my mother started an organization, on the side that would remove inner city youth, gang bangers, etc and have them go to the desert in order to get them out of the community. They would go have peace, swim, atv ride, bbq, jet ski, read/learn the bible etc. This was something that she feels GOD had her to do and placed on her mind. She didn't make any money, she did it from the kindness of her heart. She did that for many years while working. She even would allow church group to use the property for their retreats.
She passed away quickly last year in Jan at the age of 56. Pneaumonia and sarcoidoses. 1 day.
Anyhow, I don't mean to get too religious for some of you, but that is one of the biggest reasons why this property cannot go away; especially since I only hold bare legal title. I've googled several cases on bare legal title, and have found many people to be in the same boat I am in. They won against the trustee. I'm assuming this will be an easy win, but who knows?
No man can take away anything that GOD has given you! I feel like he has certainly blessed my parents with for that purpose. This will be interesting....for the trustee that is.
My wife and I woke up very early (5:30) for our meeting. It was in downtown Los Angeles.
It was a very calm morning. There was a pretty thick marine layer, with cool weather. A start to a very nice day!
After we dropped our child off to summer camp at 6:30 AM. We made our way to the 341 meeting. This was held in a building known for being an accounting firm. Ernst Young to be exact. Not a court house that I imagined.
Everyone seemed very nice. The security told us exactly where to go. We were a part of the 8:00 AM meeting that had approx 10 filers. We were 2nd to last. There were not as many people there as expected...no children at all. A few people seemed nervous, most others pretty calm. My wife seemed ok, but I knew she was a bit nervous. As for me well, for some reason I felt great. Not nervous at all, even leading up to the meeting. It was interesting watching some of the lawyers coach their clients in the waiting area outside of the meeting room. One attorney seemed to have quite a bit of clients. He later boasted to another attorney of how busy his office is, and how he had 26 cases last month. They spoke loud in the meeting before the 341, as if they wanted everyone to hear.
So...the trustee intoduced herself. I heard she was old...she didn't seem to be as old as I thought. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with Zacky Farm chicken radio or TV commercials...but Lillian from Zacky Farms reminds me of the trustee for some reason. She spoke calm and seemed to be very nice.
She started with the first client. Very simple standard questions. She later asked if there were any creditors there for the client. Nobody, and said have a nice day.
The interesting cases I saw leading up to mine was a lady who manufactured high end handbags. She and her attorney showed up, but didn't expect to have a meeting because there was somethign that they forgot to bring. The trustee invited them to still have the meeting and follow-up with whatever it was in a month. They agreed and sat down. The trustee asked the standard questions and then asked about any add'l inventory or handbags that are out there. The lady replied that approx $30,000 in inventory was being held by two or three vendors who would not give it back. She also mentioned that she is staying with her mom and her mom is currently supporting her.
Anyhow, all seemed well until the trustee began to conclude the meeting. She asked if there were any creditors, and to the young ladies surprise one stood up. The lady turned red and took her bottle of water and took a long drink from it. The trustee invited the creditor to come forward, introduce herself, and have a seat in front. The creditor only asked one question, I assume all others were asked by the trustee. She asked: "I see that you are still selling your handbags on the internet, how many do you have left?"
I felt so embarrassed for her at that point. That creditor seemed to have blown a whole in her testimony to the trustee. Now I assume the trustee will dig deeper.
As I mentioned all of the meetings seemed to have gone very well. Until she got to me.
I have a 1.5 million dollar petition that is mainly business debt.
After all the standard questions, she asked if I knew what amount of my petition on shedule F was for business debt. I mentioned that I believe it's over $700k. She seemed to have agreed. Why she asked...I don't know. Maybe it was a precursor for her next question. She shuffled some papers and went straight into my properties. She asked if I owned any other properties other than the three I have, I said no.
(The biggest issue of my petition is property that I hold "BARE LEGAL TITLLE" to that is my parents. This property was placed in my name at 20 years old. I was a college student at the time. Why was it placed in my name, I have no idea. My parents had a lot of property then, I assume they didn't want too much in their names. This property is special to the family, but literally is not mine.)
The trustee went straight into that property. My attorney knew it would happen, and warned me before hand that it would become a fight. I coldn't believe it though.
She knew of the memo that my attorney prepared about the property, and how he explained in full detail of how it is not mine. She seemed to ignore it, and said she had a realtor look into the property and said it was worth $36k. We said it was worth $52k in the schedule. NOW I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK!
My attorney jumped in, and that's when the fireworks started. He explained the memo, and she cut him off and said "OH, I read the memo. I have to do what I have to do. Now they need to figure out if they want to buy it back or not." Then she looked at my attorney, and pointed to us and said loadly "THEY GOT A GIFT!" (Mind you, we weren't married at the time of transfer, both in college.)
The trustee seemed to turn into what we all imagine trustees are like before attend the 341 meeting. I feel like she really stuck it to me, and only me because she did that with nobody else.
Questions:
1. Do you think she is pissed due to my amount of debt in my petition? She asked if I knew how much was business debt before jumping into taking my parents property away.
2. If we showed her proof that teh county says the property is worth $52k, and she says no....lower at $36k...should that mean she wants to make a deal with me personally and lowered it to $36k? I would think that she would play the game and keep it at what I said.
3. I believe I am the poster child for what BARE LEGAL TITLE IS in Bankruptcy cases. My parents have always paid the taxes on the property...even to this day. My dad has been renting some of the mobile homes on the property and pockets the money. They put it directly into his checking account every 3 mos or so. The property tax bills are mailed directly to him out of state w/ my name on them ofcourse. He takes care of the property because it is his property.
4. I need some opinions if you don't mind.
I was thinking to remove my $20k in exemptions to the cover the property. I would then have a $16k balance that I can't pay or afford. I can pay an attorney ...what $2500 hopefully less to help me prepare an answer to her petition to take the property. I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I just know that we can't lose this property for a number of reasons.
(My parents found this property in the high desert in CA 20 years ago. in 1990 my mother started an organization, on the side that would remove inner city youth, gang bangers, etc and have them go to the desert in order to get them out of the community. They would go have peace, swim, atv ride, bbq, jet ski, read/learn the bible etc. This was something that she feels GOD had her to do and placed on her mind. She didn't make any money, she did it from the kindness of her heart. She did that for many years while working. She even would allow church group to use the property for their retreats.
She passed away quickly last year in Jan at the age of 56. Pneaumonia and sarcoidoses. 1 day.
Anyhow, I don't mean to get too religious for some of you, but that is one of the biggest reasons why this property cannot go away; especially since I only hold bare legal title. I've googled several cases on bare legal title, and have found many people to be in the same boat I am in. They won against the trustee. I'm assuming this will be an easy win, but who knows?
No man can take away anything that GOD has given you! I feel like he has certainly blessed my parents with for that purpose. This will be interesting....for the trustee that is.
Crossing fingers for ya!
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