Dumb question

[thomas12t]

we just got notice of our 341 meeting in April, and I have a question. i'm extremely nervous about the meeting, and when i am nervous, I tend to talk before my brain has time to think.........My husband on the other hand, is alot more calm and will probably answer questions better than me. If I let him do all the talking, is that even possible or will we both have to talk? I am so afraid of saying something wrong. Any suggestions, or am I going to be able to just sit there?

[blessed]

Since he is listed first, as the "debtor", I would let him do the talking. But if you are asked directly take a second and gather your thoughts. Oh, and short and to the point answers. It will be okay.

[Mensa1]

Most of the questions require a yes or no answer. You will each need to audibly answer to those. The questions that require elaboration should be answered by him alone. The T'ee may ask you if you agree with what you H just described? Yes!

The the T'ee will say, "you are excused, good luck to you". Now that was simple, wasn't it..?

[DeadManCrawling]

I work in the public eye for my living, and my wife does not speak well in stressful conditions.

At our 341, we were both required to state name, SS verification, and affirm a few things.

After that, trustee asked questions and I was the only one who provided answers. Nearly all were in yes/no format.

A few irregularities about assets we were surrendering required more in depth answers. I provided those and my wife never said another word. Trustee was fine with this.

Remember, as nervous as you may feel, this is another day at the office for the trustee. In most cases, they just want to get through your 341 as fast as possible. They get paid PER CASE, so the faster they go, the more they make.

If yours is going to be unusual, you will know it pretty quickly after you start. Otherwise, having one person answer most of the questions will be the way to go. I saw our trustee get a little frustrated with couples who stepped all over each other and especially people who tried to overexplain or offer apologies for certain things without being asked about those things.

You should be fine with one person handling most of the answers.

[Mensa1]

Congrats DeadMan........... I see you were just discharged yesterday!!!!

Nirvanna. Celebrations were in order? Now onward and upward, heh?

[ace13]

At my 341 yesterday, the first case was husband and wife. The TT asked both to state their name for the record then asked who would be answering the questions. The husband did and the TT then asked the wife if she agreed with his answers. Their case was later continued because apparently they filed chapter 7 before then a chapter 13 and were back in three years with another 7.

I was called at 837 am and was done at 841. Less than 5 minutes. If you are honest and are not hiding anything, you should be fine. I'm now waiting for the TT report. Hopefully by the end of the week. Good luck to you.

[thomas12t]

Thank you all for your honest answers, I do feel better now. Still a little nervous, but much relieved!

[debtinohio]

Haha, we both answered our questions and our 341 took about 30 mins.

Our trustee talked about the president of my company for 10 mins, was way off topic for another 10 mins on just random stuff than finally covered the actual details in the last 10 mins. I had a back and forth semi-argument about my 2 cars with him, how he thought they were luxury cars and how I could have owned the nicest Porsche in town for what they cost me. I got the only trustee in town who owned the SAME car as me. He asked does it have 4 doors? 4wd? 20" wheels? XXXX motor? sunroof? etc. I probably shouldn't have done this but my attorney didn't say anything and the trustee expected me to answer him. He was clearly wrong, but I just let it go in the end and said "ok sir". He did not end up objecting to the cars in the objection he did file anyway.

I watched 5 others before mine, and they were out in 5 mins with some yes/no questions. But they were all under median, low asset cases so mine got some additional scrutiny since I doubled the median income.

[Mensa1]

debtinohio: So was the car question over cars you had bought recently before the filing? The TT obviously thought you overspent...?
What was the outcome of TT objection regarding the cars.?
So how did it all turn out in the end, or have you hit the end yet?

[debtinohio]

debtinohio: So was the car question over cars you had bought recently before the filing? The TT obviously thought you overspent...?
What was the outcome of TT objection regarding the cars.?
So how did it all turn out in the end, or have you hit the end yet?

1 car was a lease @ $600/month for a Mercedes (says enough right there). There is less than a year left on it.

1 truck is *almost* 1 year into a 6 year loan @ $549 ($599 in the plan to pay it off in 5 years). It's a 2009 pickup truck.

He was mad about the Mercedes, because 1st it was a Mercedes and second because of the payment. This one he said I could have had the nicest Porsche in town for that.

He owned a truck just like mine so he wanted to know every single detail about every single option. It's not an over-optioned truck, but pickups are expensive.

He called our plan a "car plan" but did not object to the cars, he just asked in his objection to our plan that once the lease is up that the payment amount left after replacing it go to the plan, meaning we can only spend like $400/month to replace it and the remaining $200 will go to unsecured for the final 4 years of the plan.

Our confirmation is not until mid-April so who knows what will happen. He had 4 things listed in his objections but nothing about the cars.

I apologized for the lease, I told him I tried to replace it with a cheaper car but had no luck securing financing before filing. He asked if I could sell the truck for what I owe I told him "I'm sure, but then I have to replace it and it would be the same problem getting financed".

[Mensa1]

He called our plan a "car plan" but did not object to the cars".

Oh I see now. I was thinking along the lines of Ch 7, but see that you are in a 13. Got it, makes sense now. Yep, he wouldn't like the Mercedes especially when he is driving a truck... Not that there is anything wrong with a p/u; I have had 8 or 9 of them and drive one now. Wouldn't trade it for a Mercedes.

[debtinohio]

Oh I see now. I was thinking along the lines of Ch 7, but see that you are in a 13. Got it, makes sense now. Yep, he wouldn't like the Mercedes especially when he is driving a truck... Not that there is anything wrong with a p/u; I have had 8 or 9 of them and drive one now. Wouldn't trade it for a Mercedes.

I love my truck too. It was $7000 more than the Mercedes was new, but he really didn't care. It was all about the flashy brand named car :-)
He said "The Benz" about 30 times during our conversation.