Had my 341 on Friday 18th in Tampa
Finally...it's over. The anxiety this has caused me has been tremendous, but all worked out in my favor as best as it could be.
I arrived about 10-15 mins before my scheduled appt and sat in the back of the room. I already knew that I had one of the "nicer" trustees in Tampa, but I was still nervous as hell. Even got a little emotional while sitting there, probably from all of the prior weeks of worrying over this and having the moment of truth finally come, and the fact that I was in this position at all.
I believe there were 3 people or couples before me, and it seems I was the first to be called from my group (yay). There were quite a few people sitting there when I arrived, but I got called before most of them and was 2nd to last to arrive.
2 of them had filed ch 7 before and got questioned about that. One couple got sent outside with their attorney to straighten something out about a 401K that the guy had cashed out earlier in the year. The trustee said "i'm losing my patience". There was another who filed pro se and had also filed ch 7 about 7 years ago and that one went smooth.
My concern was, as some of you know, the fact that I had about $3366 in my checking acct on day of filing. The bulk of that was my 2004 tax return which I had deposited 2 weeks prior. My wonderful attorney, who I retained after filing pro se when I found out that I had made many errors and omissions through ignorance, was able to exempt over $900 of that. Then I had a new concern. The trustee sent a letter asking for all the usual documents to be turned in 10 days prior to the 341.... and in it it said he is valuing the car at RETAIL. My lawyer was like "blah he can't do that, I'll fight it". In FL we only have a $1000 exemption, and the retail value on my car is $3200 or so. I thought it was trade-in value, which would have been under the $1000. Lawyer said it should be somewhere between trade-in and private party value, and put down the value at $1072. So I had been freaking out over that because if I had to pay back money for my car (which I paid off already) AND pay money from what I had in my acct I'd be really screwed.
Anyhow.....sat down when called with my attorney not knowing what to expect with the car and all. Was asked some of the usual questions. He was nice but business-like of course. Then he said "I see you provided me with some estimates on the car", and I said "yes and I have more..." He said "No that won't be necessary... I think this covers it".
He then asked my attorney "She understands about the money in her account?" and he said yes. Trustee did some figuring and lawyer said yep that's what I have (the $900+ exemption to get the total due). He didnt' even take the $72 overage from the car! Anyway, he asked me "So, this money was from your tax refund it looks like". I said yes. He said do you still have it? You didn't spend it? I said "no I did not" He said "Very good. I'll send you a letter today in the mail about where to send the check, etc." So, I have to pay just under $2400.
He also did NOT ask for my 2005 tax return/refund check, and my attorney said that if he didn't ask there, that although the case isn't closed there is a VERY SLIM to none chance he will ever ask for it.
That was my other huge concern. Now forking over the $2400 isn't so bad AT ALL being that I can keep my next tax refund which I can file for soon enough.
So overall for me, all things considered, things went VERY well. Certainly better than expected. If I had spent my 2004 tax refund money, a lot of it would have been on the car, and then I would have been stuck with paying back the overage on the car, and I wouldn't have had the money to do so! So I think this thing all worked out for the best, and $2400 is a small price to pay to get out of my mess. And, to make matters better, things have been going well at work all of a sudden (commission only sales), so I have the money AND enough to pay my bills, so it's not going to kill me. I'll file tax return right away this year and have that money as my cushion and to fix what's left to fix on my car (the usual things you need to do to a car with 103,000 miles that you drive all over the place and back).
Whew! thanks for all the help and support while I was freaking out earlier before I got my attorney to help. I'm not happy about being bankrupt, but happy enough about the outcome and that the worst is over - the uncertainty.
I arrived about 10-15 mins before my scheduled appt and sat in the back of the room. I already knew that I had one of the "nicer" trustees in Tampa, but I was still nervous as hell. Even got a little emotional while sitting there, probably from all of the prior weeks of worrying over this and having the moment of truth finally come, and the fact that I was in this position at all.
I believe there were 3 people or couples before me, and it seems I was the first to be called from my group (yay). There were quite a few people sitting there when I arrived, but I got called before most of them and was 2nd to last to arrive.
2 of them had filed ch 7 before and got questioned about that. One couple got sent outside with their attorney to straighten something out about a 401K that the guy had cashed out earlier in the year. The trustee said "i'm losing my patience". There was another who filed pro se and had also filed ch 7 about 7 years ago and that one went smooth.
My concern was, as some of you know, the fact that I had about $3366 in my checking acct on day of filing. The bulk of that was my 2004 tax return which I had deposited 2 weeks prior. My wonderful attorney, who I retained after filing pro se when I found out that I had made many errors and omissions through ignorance, was able to exempt over $900 of that. Then I had a new concern. The trustee sent a letter asking for all the usual documents to be turned in 10 days prior to the 341.... and in it it said he is valuing the car at RETAIL. My lawyer was like "blah he can't do that, I'll fight it". In FL we only have a $1000 exemption, and the retail value on my car is $3200 or so. I thought it was trade-in value, which would have been under the $1000. Lawyer said it should be somewhere between trade-in and private party value, and put down the value at $1072. So I had been freaking out over that because if I had to pay back money for my car (which I paid off already) AND pay money from what I had in my acct I'd be really screwed.
Anyhow.....sat down when called with my attorney not knowing what to expect with the car and all. Was asked some of the usual questions. He was nice but business-like of course. Then he said "I see you provided me with some estimates on the car", and I said "yes and I have more..." He said "No that won't be necessary... I think this covers it".
He then asked my attorney "She understands about the money in her account?" and he said yes. Trustee did some figuring and lawyer said yep that's what I have (the $900+ exemption to get the total due). He didnt' even take the $72 overage from the car! Anyway, he asked me "So, this money was from your tax refund it looks like". I said yes. He said do you still have it? You didn't spend it? I said "no I did not" He said "Very good. I'll send you a letter today in the mail about where to send the check, etc." So, I have to pay just under $2400. He also did NOT ask for my 2005 tax return/refund check, and my attorney said that if he didn't ask there, that although the case isn't closed there is a VERY SLIM to none chance he will ever ask for it.
That was my other huge concern. Now forking over the $2400 isn't so bad AT ALL being that I can keep my next tax refund which I can file for soon enough. So overall for me, all things considered, things went VERY well. Certainly better than expected. If I had spent my 2004 tax refund money, a lot of it would have been on the car, and then I would have been stuck with paying back the overage on the car, and I wouldn't have had the money to do so! So I think this thing all worked out for the best, and $2400 is a small price to pay to get out of my mess. And, to make matters better, things have been going well at work all of a sudden (commission only sales), so I have the money AND enough to pay my bills, so it's not going to kill me. I'll file tax return right away this year and have that money as my cushion and to fix what's left to fix on my car (the usual things you need to do to a car with 103,000 miles that you drive all over the place and back).
Whew! thanks for all the help and support while I was freaking out earlier before I got my attorney to help. I'm not happy about being bankrupt, but happy enough about the outcome and that the worst is over - the uncertainty.
Again, no questions from the trustee.
Comment