I had my 341 and, just like everyone says, it's so much less than what you think it will be.
I showed up an hour early. It was a small waiting room in a courthouse with another attached room for the actual 341.
The first guy who went in, man, the trustee worked him over. Raised his voice and was clearly annoyed with the guy. He was an attorney and he was very slipshod with his numbers and his paperwork. I heard something about art worth $200,000 being given away and all kinds of stuff, but the guy couldn't give dates and his standard answer was "I'm not sure." It was really fishy and the trustee wasn't having any of it. He took an hour and put everyone else behind.
When it was my turn, I went in and the trustee checked my ID and social security card, and then read from him laptop for a minute or two. Asked me how much my house was worth and when I bought it. Asked me why I was filing. Asked me if my petition was correct and if I needed to correct anything. Asked me what I did for a living. When I told him what I did for a living, he took an interest in it and asked me quite a few questions, totally unrelated to the 341 or BK, about it. We were basically just chatting at this point. After a few minutes, he said the meeting was over and no objections.
I thought he may ask me about a non-running motorcycle I listed on my petition that is valued at $100, but he didn't. I thought he might give me more scrutiny since I'm double the median, but he didn't.
My advice for others is
1. Have your ID and social security card ready. Have it in your pocket, ready. Making the trustee wait for you to dig for it seems to annoy them.
2. Arrive early. I had to park pretty far away, find the courthouse, go through security, and then find the room. Also, I got stuck in traffic for an hour. Allot yourself plenty of time. You can always read a book in your car if you get there too early.
3. Make sure your petition is accurate and nothing unexplained is on there. If everything looks squared away and makes sense, there is no reason for the trustee to spend a lot of time on you.
4. Dress like you're going to a courthouse. It shows respect.
5. Finally, speak up. He is recording you. I heard him get annoyed with someone who kept talking too low. Really, you probably don't want to annoy your trustee.
I think I was actually at the trustee's table for maybe 7 minutes, and the bulk of that was the off-topic questions about my employer that he was curious about. Now I'm waiting out the post-341 deadlines, hoping the US Trustee doesn't object.
I showed up an hour early. It was a small waiting room in a courthouse with another attached room for the actual 341.
The first guy who went in, man, the trustee worked him over. Raised his voice and was clearly annoyed with the guy. He was an attorney and he was very slipshod with his numbers and his paperwork. I heard something about art worth $200,000 being given away and all kinds of stuff, but the guy couldn't give dates and his standard answer was "I'm not sure." It was really fishy and the trustee wasn't having any of it. He took an hour and put everyone else behind.
When it was my turn, I went in and the trustee checked my ID and social security card, and then read from him laptop for a minute or two. Asked me how much my house was worth and when I bought it. Asked me why I was filing. Asked me if my petition was correct and if I needed to correct anything. Asked me what I did for a living. When I told him what I did for a living, he took an interest in it and asked me quite a few questions, totally unrelated to the 341 or BK, about it. We were basically just chatting at this point. After a few minutes, he said the meeting was over and no objections.
I thought he may ask me about a non-running motorcycle I listed on my petition that is valued at $100, but he didn't. I thought he might give me more scrutiny since I'm double the median, but he didn't.
My advice for others is
1. Have your ID and social security card ready. Have it in your pocket, ready. Making the trustee wait for you to dig for it seems to annoy them.
2. Arrive early. I had to park pretty far away, find the courthouse, go through security, and then find the room. Also, I got stuck in traffic for an hour. Allot yourself plenty of time. You can always read a book in your car if you get there too early.
3. Make sure your petition is accurate and nothing unexplained is on there. If everything looks squared away and makes sense, there is no reason for the trustee to spend a lot of time on you.
4. Dress like you're going to a courthouse. It shows respect.
5. Finally, speak up. He is recording you. I heard him get annoyed with someone who kept talking too low. Really, you probably don't want to annoy your trustee.
I think I was actually at the trustee's table for maybe 7 minutes, and the bulk of that was the off-topic questions about my employer that he was curious about. Now I'm waiting out the post-341 deadlines, hoping the US Trustee doesn't object.
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