Had our Pro Se 341 Today! Encouragement inside!
My wife and I filed on 8-15 and had our meeting of creditors this morning at 10:00 a.m. I want to share our experience as I know it will help all those who are traveling this road behind us. We have personally benefited from this site and all those who are here to help! Thank you again!
Walked into the meeting room and sat down in the waiting area with about 12 other people. About 75 % of them seemed to have attorneys with them. We sat in the waiting area and listened to all the 9:00 appts that were ahead of us. Trustee seemed to ask everyone almost the same questions. Showing up early helped our nerves a little...at first.
At 10:00, we went into a pretty informal room with chairs at one side and three desks set up at the front, trustee being in the center. He had a recording device in the center of his desk.
We listened to about 5 cases before ours and all were very similar. Those who had attorneys didn't really seem to benefit from them at the hearing but may have felt good just having someone there for them. We were not very nervous until the trustee kept switching his folders around and we ended up being very last with no others in the room. We both wondered if he was saving the next 45 minutes to beat us to death...LOL. Not the case.
He called our case number and we went up, raised our right hands and swore to tell the truth. He then asked for our SS Card and DL. We gave our names and addresses when asked. He only asked the basics...did we sign the petition, have we ever filed bk before, is the petition accurate, did we list all assets and creditors, etc. This trustee was curious about last years refunds for everyone and told a select few to send in next years taxes to his office. I was not able to figure out who exactly "qualified" for this part but it seemed to be the ones who had substantial refunds last year. I told him I had a refund of $708 from federal last year but it was applied to 2003's delinquent taxes. He did not ask us to submit returns this next year.
Trustee did ask me about a few businesses over the last 6 years I listed but was only concerned about any left over assets...there are none. After 4 minutes, it was over. 4 minutes!!! I read so many other posts on here and the majority said the 341 was quick and painless...but we were like everyone else...not ours..they are out to get us. Not the case and we actually had a very nice trustee who made small talk during the breaks and was patient with even the "annoying" types of unprepared people. Was even patient with one older lady whos husband did not bother to show and all she had to present the trustee was a doctors excuse. He handled her well.
Our case was a simple no asset, chapter 7, filed ourselves using Form7 Software (huge help).
Best advice: Be prepared! Even though we were not asked to provide any documents other than our ids, just having everything available gave us the confidence that we were prepared. We had old businesses, 3 large credit accounts all opened at the beginning of this year and balance transfers and a few large cash advances up to February...and we were not asked to provide any bankstatements, paystubs, titles for cars, tax returns, etc. We had them all just in case but we were sure they were gonna pick apart the last two years of our lives.
There you have it...another pleasurable 341 experience and another person telling you future filers to be calm, do your research and be prepared but don't stress over the things that are out of your control! Good luck to you all and thanks again to those who have personally helped us through this stressful time!
Walked into the meeting room and sat down in the waiting area with about 12 other people. About 75 % of them seemed to have attorneys with them. We sat in the waiting area and listened to all the 9:00 appts that were ahead of us. Trustee seemed to ask everyone almost the same questions. Showing up early helped our nerves a little...at first.
At 10:00, we went into a pretty informal room with chairs at one side and three desks set up at the front, trustee being in the center. He had a recording device in the center of his desk.
We listened to about 5 cases before ours and all were very similar. Those who had attorneys didn't really seem to benefit from them at the hearing but may have felt good just having someone there for them. We were not very nervous until the trustee kept switching his folders around and we ended up being very last with no others in the room. We both wondered if he was saving the next 45 minutes to beat us to death...LOL. Not the case.
He called our case number and we went up, raised our right hands and swore to tell the truth. He then asked for our SS Card and DL. We gave our names and addresses when asked. He only asked the basics...did we sign the petition, have we ever filed bk before, is the petition accurate, did we list all assets and creditors, etc. This trustee was curious about last years refunds for everyone and told a select few to send in next years taxes to his office. I was not able to figure out who exactly "qualified" for this part but it seemed to be the ones who had substantial refunds last year. I told him I had a refund of $708 from federal last year but it was applied to 2003's delinquent taxes. He did not ask us to submit returns this next year.
Trustee did ask me about a few businesses over the last 6 years I listed but was only concerned about any left over assets...there are none. After 4 minutes, it was over. 4 minutes!!! I read so many other posts on here and the majority said the 341 was quick and painless...but we were like everyone else...not ours..they are out to get us. Not the case and we actually had a very nice trustee who made small talk during the breaks and was patient with even the "annoying" types of unprepared people. Was even patient with one older lady whos husband did not bother to show and all she had to present the trustee was a doctors excuse. He handled her well.
Our case was a simple no asset, chapter 7, filed ourselves using Form7 Software (huge help).
Best advice: Be prepared! Even though we were not asked to provide any documents other than our ids, just having everything available gave us the confidence that we were prepared. We had old businesses, 3 large credit accounts all opened at the beginning of this year and balance transfers and a few large cash advances up to February...and we were not asked to provide any bankstatements, paystubs, titles for cars, tax returns, etc. We had them all just in case but we were sure they were gonna pick apart the last two years of our lives.
There you have it...another pleasurable 341 experience and another person telling you future filers to be calm, do your research and be prepared but don't stress over the things that are out of your control! Good luck to you all and thanks again to those who have personally helped us through this stressful time!
Its good to have the good experiences to share. I also agree 100000% that it helps to be prepared and that by getting all your paperwork together, that keeps you occupied. 
I'll be watching, you may never know when or how, but I'll be there. I am there now....
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