Okay, I filed today, here is what my lawyer had to say....

[bobby125]

I filed today and am awaiting my 341 court date via mail.

For some background, I owe $85,000 ccards, $13,000 car, and own 2 rental properties (one at $200k and one at $100k), plus my primary home.

I am married and filing on my own. My payback plan (what my lawyer and I came up with) is $743 per month for 54 months. I am giving back one rental property (bc I want to) and I live in Atlanta Georgia. My W-2 said $85,000 last year.

******Her are some of the last questions I asked her today********

-What about increases in the monthly amount? She said not likely, but possible. (see trustee comments below)

-no 401k (knew that one already)

-that I should file my tax returns seperate from my wife (so as not to show any increases in revenue) bc we expect my wife to make more this year.

-NOT TO FILE tax returns electronically, bc it makes it harder for the trustee to obtain-Had not heard this before

-That there are 3 trustees in this area and that 2 are good, and one is terrible. said that the one bad one will keep a close eye and for example, would take any tax return money i may recieve. said the other two would not do so

-I mentioned the early payoff and she said after 36 months that is fine, unless i get the bad trustee and in that case, I should just forget about that whole early payoff because he will try and take it all


So basically I got the idea that if I get either of the two good trustees, then I should probably expect a fairly simple process where I pay my monthly amounts, make my taxes so I get a smaller or no return, and after 36 months explore the possibility of an early payoff if possibe (from sale of rental)

But if I get the shitty trustee, then I can expect a "dog fight", no tax returns, real watchful eye and no payoff

Its amazing that the next 4.5 years can come down to a random electronic draw, is it not?

The bad guys name is Goodman, yeah, "Good" man

I am gonna be shitting myself until I find out

Does anyone know if you know the trustee the day you get the 341 date or do you not know until the day of?

sorry for the long post, just trying to share as much information as possible, I know my lawyer said that I was pretty up to speed on everything and much of that I have picked up on this forum.

Ill let you guys know, you do the same!

[jane taylor]

Your attorney should know who the trustee is in the next few days or so. We had a little trouble with income taxes in that we filed electronically and the IRS couldn't find where we had filed. We had a copy of the tax return with us, met with the lady from the IRS, and that was it. No worries. The trustee was very matter-of-fact. Apparently our attorney has a really good relationship with the trustees and their staff members. The paralegals are all friends, too. We are lucky in that respect.

Don't know whether our trustee will allow us to get out of it in 33 months (yes, I'm counting!!) or not. My plan for now is just to chill for the next few months and after consistent payments, start asking the attorney about it.

Good luck to you and keep us posted!

jane

[SinkingFast]

I remember one poster a while back that efiled their taxes. Had 'em all set up for Direct Deposit to their bank acct. Knew the date the money was supposed to show, but no deposit was ever made. They later found out the Trustee had intercepted their income taxes and had the monies diverted direct to the Trustee's acct. Some Trustees are very watchful about income taxes.

Sounds like you had a good meeting overall.

Good Luck with the filing. Hope all goes well and you do not get the "Goodman" Trustee!

[aa06a47]

If your attorney filed electronically, which most do now, you can look in Pacer. It will give the trustee name, your case, your 341 meeting date, etc. It actually took about 10 days to receive the notice in the mail. If your crapping all over youself, get a Pacer account.

Look on the bright side, you only have a 33% chance of getting the bad trustee and a 66% chance of not getting him.

[coit]

I got a different trustee in N. Georgia, he seems OK so far...

With respect to taxes, I filed electronically and received a refund. I am holding the money to see if I am asked for it. Also, I diverted most of the refund to next year's taxes to keep the refund smaller. I'm adjusting my withholding to minimize the amount of future refunds.

[beachgirl]

Could you tell me what kind of expenses you're being allowed to claim? Our income and debt is almost identical to you, but our attorney has our disposable income at double what your payments will be. I've racked my brain trying to come up with expenses I havn't thought of. Maybe you'll mention something that I've forgotten.

[bobby125]

I am heading out for the week, but I wanted to give you (beachgirl) a quick reply.......

I believe my net income for the past 6 months was $6000 and my wife was $1600

I have a big time mortgage payment of $2200 first and foremost, but we wrote off a lot (medical was like avergaed to $300 a month, my wife is a real estate agent so we wrote off items there) maintence on the house

My best advice? Purchase Microsoft Quicken for your computer and download your last 6 months statements on to it and itemize everything. This will allow you to easily show expenses to the attorney and trustee. For example, some meals were my wifes for business (?) and trips to home depot were maintenance, plus other items.

I really hope this helps you, I get paid on commission and I had no commission the first 3 months (nov dec jan) of the last 6 months which has never happenned so my income comes in lower than it should

When I get back in town, I will get you some numbers on what our expenses were I dont have them on me now

[bobby125]

hope everyone had a good weekend, my lawyer filed yesterday and i did not get the one bad trustee here in north georgia, i will let you know what happens at the 341

[Minnymouth]

That's great, glad to hear you got a decent trustee..... if there is one around these days...............

Keep us posted

[Jman30]

My Trustee is Kellner and he is the Southern District of Ohio, Dayton area.

So far, he has been great. Supposedly, the trustee in Cincinnati is really a tough one, not very pleasant to work with. My lawyer, because of the location of his office, could file in either Dayton (the good Trustee) or Cincinnati (the bad Trustee).

I've developed a pretty good relationship with my attorney and he was joking around, saying he thought my wife and I were a good family, decent people who just had bad luck. So he filed us in the Dayton office. He said he gets some people who come into his office who are jerks - they abuse the system, they are rude and difficult to work with. For them, he always files in Cincinnati.

The moral of the story is to be nice to your lawyer too....they know which Trustees are good and which are bad!

[aa06a47]

My Trustee is Kellner and he is the Southern District of Ohio, Dayton area.

So far, he has been great. Supposedly, the trustee in Cincinnati is really a tough one, not very pleasant to work with. My lawyer, because of the location of his office, could file in either Dayton (the good Trustee) or Cincinnati (the bad Trustee).

I've developed a pretty good relationship with my attorney and he was joking around, saying he thought my wife and I were a good family, decent people who just had bad luck. So he filed us in the Dayton office. He said he gets some people who come into his office who are jerks - they abuse the system, they are rude and difficult to work with. For them, he always files in Cincinnati.

The moral of the story is to be nice to your lawyer too....they know which Trustees are good and which are bad!

That is one of the reasons I went with my attorney, her relationship with the trustee. The trustee is in the same building as her (not a big building). She eats lunch, talks alot with the attorney staff in the trustee office. She had "access" other attorney's didn't have. Not saying that is 100% necessary, but I do think my case has went faster than it could have because she would just walk in their office and say wiskey tango foxtrot and get an answer right away. I imagine if it were not for her relationship with them, my ass would have been before the judge going over my expenses.

[Jman30]

That is one of the reasons I went with my attorney, her relationship with the trustee. The trustee is in the same building as her (not a big building). She eats lunch, talks alot with the attorney staff in the trustee office. She had "access" other attorney's didn't have. Not saying that is 100% necessary, but I do think my case has went faster than it could have because she would just walk in their office and say wiskey tango foxtrot and get an answer right away. I imagine if it were not for her relationship with them, my ass would have been before the judge going over my expenses.

Exactly. Some of the people in the waiting room at my attorney's office had all their financial paperwork tossed into a Wal Mart plastic bag and the papers were all ragged and dirty. They looked they had been outside in the mud for days.
I had all my paperwork organized in a folder. I had all my information at my fingertips. The lawyer even made a point during out initial meeting that he appreciated how put together all my information was. He said you would be amazed how some people don't even know the answer to basic question like "how much debt do you think you have?" They just assume the attorney will somehow magically conjure up your life history. He said my being together helped speed up the process immensely.