341 Friday...any tips? So nervous!

[lillaimof2kids]

We closed our business January 2008. Filed BK 7 on May 5, 341 is Friday 13th. I'm starting to get nervous about my 341. (I get bad migraines that last about 9 days. It started kicking in today, which mean I'll have a full blown migraine by friday...to the point where no meds touch it, eyes swell almost shut, I see double and can barely hold a conversation. I'm not sure how I'm going to function enough to make it through this in that type of pain.) We have our drivers license and SS cards ready, along with my stimulous check just in case they want that. Is there anything else I need to get ready? I want to get everything together while I can still see and think straight. I really appreciate any input!

[itcaughtup]

I had mine yesterday and it was remarkably easy, while I'm not sure of your particular situation mine lasted all of 8 minutes, no joke. The trustee was very friendly, asked maybe 20 yes or no questions and 3-4 questions that required a sentence. I wish you luck... do you have anything "shaky" about your case..

[Guest]

itcaughtup - I filed the same day as you and had my 341 yesterday. I was asked a ton of questions and the trustee said she wants to send an appraiser out to my house to check the value of my assets.

does anyone know more about this, how the appraiser looks at stuff, if this will delay my discharge, etc? i am so worried.

[Stilltheone]

When we went to our 341, I was a million times more nervous than you. I thought I was going to throw up.

We showed up an hour early, so we could watch our trustee in action. At first, I was mad that we did, because it only made my more nervous, but in the end, I'm glad we did. I could anticipate the types of questions we were going to get asked.

Going into our 341, I asked myself this question....what's the worst thing that could happen in there? A creditor show up? Have to pay something back? I knew we weren't doing anything illegal, so I had to keep reminding myself that everything was going to be okay....and it was.

Our trustee was so nice! She asked us what kind of cars we drove...my husband stated a 98 Chevy Camaro and I said a 2003 Cadillac Escalade. Yes, you can imagine my embarrassment when I had to say that. She looked at me and I thought "here it comes"....She goes "What does it cost to fill that sucker??"

Be sure to just answer yes or no answers, don't let your nervousness get you into trouble.

Good luck!

[AngelinaCat]

itcaughtup - I filed the same day as you and had my 341 yesterday. I was asked a ton of questions and the trustee said she wants to send an appraiser out to my house to check the value of my assets.

does anyone know more about this, how the appraiser looks at stuff, if this will delay my discharge, etc? i am so worried.

How did you list your things? Did you list anything as 'antique' or 'fine art' or 'designer'? I am wondering what might have triggered an appraiser. Other threads, and our own, almost worthless attorney advised listing things as 'old' and priced at 'yard sale' prices. One poor lady is being asked to submit photographs of her stuff. I wonder if your Trustee and hers are examples of the 'mean ones' we hear about?

I hope it won't come to all that for you. I also hope you have a good attorney that you can talk to.

My best wishes~~~

[AngelinaCat]

lillaimof2kids: We had our 341 on Feb. 7. We were there very early also, and for a while were the only ones in the room. Then others started trickling in until by the time we left, the room was full. The room was about the size of a college classroom with a couple of conference rooms on one side where people and their attorney could talk.

Four or five people, and one couple went ahead of us, so we got to watch to see how it went. We were very, very nervous also. The couple were trying to convert from a 13 to a 7 (or vise versa--I don't remember which) and they were asked the most questions. One lady was doing her filing herself and did not have proper ID with her correct name on it, so her case was either continued, or she was told she had to start over. And about every other comment from the Trustee to this lady was that she needed to get a lawyer. But he was kind, and explained to her what she needed to do. When it became our turn, he looked over our paperwork, looked at our IDs, asked maybe 20 or so questions that were mostly yes and no, and that was about it.

[itcaughtup]

It's really troubling to hear so many different stories of the way trustees act, again mine could not have been nicer but some of you really had a rough go. From continuing to read here it seems no matter what happens if you continue to dot all your I's and cross your T's, eventually things work out, someone above me made a good comment regarding " we are not doing something illegal" though it may feel that way. Keep your head up and best of luck to you..

[Guest]

Everything was listed as yard sale prices...but when I got divorced a few months ago, my ex and I prepared our own paperwork and under our assets for our marital settlement agreement we listed the value of things we were each keeping (furniture and stuff) as though it was new when we bought it. It's all from 3 to 10 years old though! I didn't list anything as designer, told trustee I have no antiques or collections or anything - she just wants to have someone come value what is in my house. Wondering what the process is...will the appraiser go through everything? it seems like an invasion of my privacy!

How did you list your things? Did you list anything as 'antique' or 'fine art' or 'designer'? I am wondering what might have triggered an appraiser. Other threads, and our own, almost worthless attorney advised listing things as 'old' and priced at 'yard sale' prices. One poor lady is being asked to submit photographs of her stuff. I wonder if your Trustee and hers are examples of the 'mean ones' we hear about?

I hope it won't come to all that for you. I also hope you have a good attorney that you can talk to.

My best wishes~~~

[JRScott]

Okay lilliam,

Arrive early, if possible an hour or so early. Watch the other cases, this did wonders for me, I was calm after seeing the mess before me and knowing that we had all that stuff covered. (I still wonder what happened to the late guy....he was told by the trustee he would be last when he called his name the third time.....)

Don't take any electronic devices (cell phones, pagers, etc).
Don't go buy a new suit or dress, just wear what you might to a good restaurant.
Don't wear jewelry. (Other than a plain wedding band if married)
Don't bring children. (Some trustees are more understanding than others but children generally get bored and cranky in the hot room).
Make sure to take your Driver's License and Social Security Cards (without these they can't proceed).
Make sure to bring anything your lawyer or the trustee has requested but you've not given them yet.

You'll be fine.

[AngelinaCat]

I'll add to JRScott's advice: If you are married and using a different name from that of your husband, bring a copy of the marriage license also. Since we were filing jointly, we had to prove we were married, in addition to proving that we were who we said we were.

[Stilltheone]

Okay lilliam,

Arrive early, if possible an hour or so early. Watch the other cases, this did wonders for me, I was calm after seeing the mess before me and knowing that we had all that stuff covered. (I still wonder what happened to the late guy....he was told by the trustee he would be last when he called his name the third time.....)

Don't take any electronic devices (cell phones, pagers, etc).
Don't go buy a new suit or dress, just wear what you might to a good restaurant.
Don't wear jewelry. (Other than a plain wedding band if married)
Don't bring children. (Some trustees are more understanding than others but children generally get bored and cranky in the hot room).
Make sure to take your Driver's License and Social Security Cards (without these they can't proceed).
Make sure to bring anything your lawyer or the trustee has requested but you've not given them yet.

You'll be fine.

You had a late guy, too? We had a couple that was late. About 20 seconds after she called their name, they waltzed in...wearing jean shorts and flip flops.

I agree, dress appropriate. Don't overdress, don't underdress. I wore simple black pants with a white casual blouse. Husband wore khakis with a polo. We didn't wear our jewelry at all.

One person before us walked in with her Chanel bag and her HUGE honkin' diamond ring. She brought her mom with her and her mom kept pointing at her ring. This was also the same woman that had an expensive boat, but told the trustee that it was a gift to her son.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[Cali]

Thanks for reminding me of this. I still use my maiden name for almost everything.

I'll add to JRScott's advice: If you are married and using a different name from that of your husband, bring a copy of the marriage license also. Since we were filing jointly, we had to prove we were married, in addition to proving that we were who we said we were.

[vleisme]

We had our second 341 yesterday we converted from a 13 to a 7 so we already had one for the 13.We were very worried because we are well over the median income but passed the means test due to priority secured debt. We also worried about determining the value of our house and the stimulus check.Our attorney called a friend of his in real estate and got an estimate of our home value and I didn't know if that would suffice.We live in a rural area with acerage so the normal sources you use for comps does not apply in our case. The 341 couldn't have been easier. The trustee asked how we came up with the house value we didn't even have to answer the atty did all the explaining and he seemed okay with it. He never mentioned the stimulus checks to anyone in the 341. He didn't question anything like we thought he would it appears the atty got it right this time after many blunders with our 13. We were afraid of losing property but it was exempted enough I guess because he never even asked about it. This seems way too easy we are still waiting for the ball to drop! The trustee said he concludes our meeting and we left. I asked the atty if he will still be determing if our case is an asset or no asset case and he said he would of told us then and questioned us more about our assets. We owe close to what any asset we have is worth so I guess the trustee is not interested in them. I hope this is it and now we wait for discharge after filing 8 months ago.

[laurannm]

We had our second 341 yesterday we converted from a 13 to a 7 so we already had one for the 13.We were very worried because we are well over the median income but passed the means test due to priority secured debt. We also worried about determining the value of our house and the stimulus check.Our attorney called a friend of his in real estate and got an estimate of our home value and I didn't know if that would suffice.We live in a rural area with acerage so the normal sources you use for comps does not apply in our case. The 341 couldn't have been easier. The trustee asked how we came up with the house value we didn't even have to answer the atty did all the explaining and he seemed okay with it. He never mentioned the stimulus checks to anyone in the 341. He didn't question anything like we thought he would it appears the atty got it right this time after many blunders with our 13. We were afraid of losing property but it was exempted enough I guess because he never even asked about it. This seems way too easy we are still waiting for the ball to drop! The trustee said he concludes our meeting and we left. I asked the atty if he will still be determing if our case is an asset or no asset case and he said he would of told us then and questioned us more about our assets. We owe close to what any asset we have is worth so I guess the trustee is not interested in them. I hope this is it and now we wait for discharge after filing 8 months ago.

Sounds like good news all the way around...congrats!

Were you required to have the estimated house value from the broker in writing?

[vleisme]

The trustee seemed fine with the atty getting an estimate on the value and he did not ask for it in writing. I was not sure this was good enough so I asked two real estate agents in my area for their opinion and they gave me that in an e-mail so if the trustee wants more proof I can give him that.I did not mention that because he seemed okay with the estimate the atty received. It probably helped that my atty is also a chapter 7 trustee in my district and he seemed to know the trustee personally and was on a first name basis with him.