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Honesty really is the best policy

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    Honesty really is the best policy

    Had 341 today on complicated (self employed, own 2 s corps and 3 LLCs, 3 leased automobiles, etc....) non-consumer bk7 with about $900,000 in real estate I was surrendering.

    My atty had warned me that it could get hairy but I was comfortable that I had provided all necessary documentation.

    One concern weighing on my conscience was the fact that I realized there was a potential real estate transfer that fell within the 2 year window that was not noted on my original petition. This is because I forgot about it, as it was a property that was scammed from me by a person who was supposed to be helping me with my problem.

    Short story, this "professional" was going to take a loan against this small value property that I owned with no mortgage and use the $$ to repair other properties. Well, instead he signed the deed over to a hard money (private) lender and the property was deeded over to them as collateral for the loan. The truth is I will probably never get it back. However this happened about 22 months ago.

    When the trustee asked if petition was correct I said not completely and explained this honest omission. (I had relayed all of this to atty prior so there was no surprises for them) From that point forward, the 341 became much easier.

    The trustee asked several questions about the real estate and my business but accepted my answers at face value without verification on most of it. I think my honesty about something she would never have known about helped my credibility.

    At the end, she said this was a "no asset case" which are the magic words!! However, then she stopped and said she would hold up on that until I provided her with a copy of the deed showing the transfer I referenced and the date. I can get that documentation. She then thanked me for being honest and said she would be done with our case once she had that for the file.

    I was truly relieved. The lesson here for others is that you should not try to hide anything. This was something that just occurred to me last week and I have been losing sleep over it. I was afraid that if I said nothing and by some bizarre twist it came to light and looked like I was shady then it could skew my case. I am glad I said it and feel confident that it helped get through the rest of the 15 minute (yes, 15 minutes) stressful 341 meeting.

    #2
    Congratulations!!! I am making this a 'stickie' for other posters who may be tempted to 'shade' the truth.

    Thank you, and again Congratulations!!!
    "To go bravely forward is to invite a miracle."

    "Worry is the darkroom where negatives are formed."

    Comment


      #3
      Always tell the truth... mine was simple.... I had a motorcycle that I had sold over 3 months prior to the 341 meeting and when asked if I had sold anything in the past 60 DAYS, I said yes and explained the motorcycle sale. (even though, the truth was that I sold the motorcycle longer than the 60 days the trustee had asked, I opened up and told of the motorcycle sale. He then just asked how much I sold it for and and who I sold it to (private person through Craigslist). From there the trustee moved along and asked if I had any questions for him and I replied "No" and he said I was free to go.

      Just be truthful, even if it falls outside of question being asked. I believe my actions added credibility of my BK filing and to boot the very next day the trustee posted on PACER that he found nothing in question with my filing and that it was a no asset case and did his usual asked to be excused as trustee, basically closing the matter from his perspective.

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        #4
        This is true and there is no reason to lie because it will just bite you later on. People don't care about your secrets because they also have their own..
        Life on planet earth is fun and I enjoy being here.

        [advertising removed by moderator -- please re-read BKForum rules]

        Comment


          #5
          jedolaw, I don't like doing this in a public area of the forum, but you do not have PM ability at this time. Please read the forum rules regarding posting. Please do not resurrect old threads where no value was added to the discussion. If you have a question, start a new topic.
          Chapter 7 (No Asset/Non-Consumer) Filed (Pro Se) 7/08 (converted from Chapter 13 - 2/10)
          Status: (Auto) Discharged and Closed! 5/10
          Visit My BKForum Blog: justbroke's Blog

          Any advice provided is not legal advice, but simply the musings of a fellow bankrupt.

          Comment


            #6
            I'm one of the top web developers in Michigan. I create forums like this for customers... I don't understand how this is the only forum I have ever used that does not allow questions.. I hate to do this in public but "are you scared of SEO results" or is this just a power thing? I don't understand how I can't ask simple questions in a forum. Are you saying this forum does not allow questions or links in forum signatures? You do know that that will turn off 50% of the people that use this forum. Most forums are a great way to share information but if you are not providing value to your guest by letting them have 1 link in their signature or have the freedom to ask questions I don't see this forum doing very well.

            But what do I know I'm just the CEO of one of the largest web development/software companies around.

            My guess is you won't take my advice and as a result you will lose many members.

            Thanks I will be leaving the forum now and I could easily start my own and in 3 days be ranked number 1 for BR forums.

            I won't do that because I'm not a mean guy but I do have the skills.

            Please allow more freedom in the future and be smart enough to know forum signatures that don't allow links are pointless and y'all are getting no real value out of this forum if you can't share your links or personal info with the world.

            God Bless and thank you!
            Life on planet earth is fun and I enjoy being here.

            [advertising removed by moderator -- please re-read BKForum rules]

            Comment


              #7
              jedolaw, I have done SEO before most people even knew that major search engines, Google, Infoseek, Yahoo, and others, had algorithms to weight page contents, so this is not the issue at all. (Since we're bragging, I'm an Executive Architect at the largest (period) web, analytics, cloud, mobile, security company in the world.)

              You did not ask a question (above). As I wrote, if you have a question you can open an entirely new thread. We don't like old threads to be re-opened because the "late" post is typically irrelevant, too late, off topic, or, in the majority of cases, just doesn't add value to the topic. We are not here just to have high post counts. Threads that are highly active with an engaging topic, do so. As you may not know, many forums actually LOCK old threads to keep them from being revived. We keep our old threads open just in case the original poster has some additional information to add at a later point.

              As for links in signatures, we do allow them. We just don't allow advertising unless you have express written permission from the site owner. I am not the site owner. Of course, you would have read that in the BKForum rules which are in the sticky area. We even allow nearly all links inside post messages as well, except for some that are blocked by filter (some times due to a request from another site-owner not to cross post).

              As for being ranked #1 by cross-posting links and using brute force tactics to rank you high, would only bring people to a site without years of clean relevant content; and no users. Maintaining a quality forum with valuable non-diluted material is important to providing this "community" resource. If your purpose here was to cross-promote a site for ranking purposes, you should re-read the BKForum rules and contact the site owner. I'm sure they will work with you if you have something that is of benefit to the members of BKForum.
              Chapter 7 (No Asset/Non-Consumer) Filed (Pro Se) 7/08 (converted from Chapter 13 - 2/10)
              Status: (Auto) Discharged and Closed! 5/10
              Visit My BKForum Blog: justbroke's Blog

              Any advice provided is not legal advice, but simply the musings of a fellow bankrupt.

              Comment


                #8
                Nicely handled JB. Sounds like jedolaw wants to be a bully.
                "To go bravely forward is to invite a miracle."

                "Worry is the darkroom where negatives are formed."

                Comment

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