Florida Question for Justbroke or whoever

[mickey123]

I am in the middle district of Florida and am several months away from filing Chapter 7.
I have 2 questions.
1-My car has a loan balance of $2,000 but according to KBB it has a value of about $10,000. I don't mind negotiating with the trustee, as long at it is a given that the negotiating will happen. I don't want the car taken away from me at the meeting.
2- I spoke to a bankruptcy attorney and he gave me a laundry list of things that I should prepare for. One of the items was 6 months of bank statements. However, in brackets it said "should the trustee so request". I had assumed that the trustee would always want to review the statements.
Is this a trustee option?

[justbroke]

1-My car has a loan balance of $2,000 but according to KBB it has a value of about $10,000. I don't mind negotiating with the trustee, as long at it is a given that the negotiating will happen. I don't want the car taken away from me at the meeting.

It would not be taken away from you at the meeting. Your bankruptcy forms, specifically your Schedule B - (106 A/B) Personal Property, will show the value of the vehicle (without the lien). So it would read $10,000. On Form Schedule C (106C), you'll exempt what you can... the $1,000. Then on Schedule D (106D) you'll list the lien (secured portion). On that Schedule D, you'll list the amount of the claim ($2,000), the value of the property ($10,000) and then the unsecured portion ($8,000). The Schedule C would protect $1,000 of it, so you have $7,000 as non-exempt equity.

You'd have to negotiate with the Chapter 7 Trustee over what you could do with that $7,000, otherwise the Trustee will seek authority to sell it.

2- I spoke to a bankruptcy attorney and he gave me a laundry list of things that I should prepare for. One of the items was 6 months of bank statements. However, in brackets it said "should the trustee so request". I had assumed that the trustee would always want to review the statements. Is this a trustee option?

The Chapter 7 Trustees usually will want 90 days of bank statements from all your demand deposit accounts (DDA's like checking and savings), any 401(k) plan statements, and any other investment accounts. The Chapter 7 trustee will decide whether they want to probe further based on what they see and/or your responses at the 341 Meeting when under oath.

The trustee can go back as far as necessary to uncover any "avoidable" or "fraudulent" transfers. Especially if you didn't list them on your Statement of Financial Affairs (SOFA) and the trustee sees them in the recent bank statements. I think the trustee can go back 2 years "if" necessary (brackets... should the trustee so be inclined based on what they see).

A Chapter 7 trustee doesn't want to waste his/her time looking for nothing. They only make about $70 per case unless they find something to administer on behalf of the estate (which means sell, recover, liquidate). So a smart trustee doesn't go looking for things unless they are relatively sure there is something there.

What I wrote is not just a Middle District of Florida thing. This is how just about any Chapter 7 trustee should proceed. Some overzealous trustees will always snoop around and the older more wise trustees know when to fold.

[Ekop785]

Good luck with your car, I hope everything goes okay - it is pretty ridiculous how low FL exemptions are (except for homes).