341 Meeting yesterday!!

[iggie97]

My wife and I filed on 8/15......we did this pro se, as I have 1.5 years of law school under my belt........Our 341 was scheduled for 1:30 PM in West Palm Beach, Florida. WE got there early, the trustee and his assitant were having lucnh, so we decided to wait until 1:15 outside....we went in at 1:15, and alot of people were sittign towards the back of the room....we decided to sit in the very front row and look confident(being in law school has tought me about how attorneys can read body language). WE also had a huge folder of papers.....we brought copies of all our monthly bills, our vehicle registrations, 3 years of tax returns, 1 month of paystubs, 1 year of bank statements, our car loan agreement, all receipts for car loan payments, two copies of our petition, and the title for our car.........we were fifth to be called.....they grilled the first couple for 15 minutes, as they forgot to list a lot on their schedule, even though they had an attorney, the truste noticed her diamond ring, and told her to get it appraised, and it was obvious they were hiding something...they disagreed about things right in front of the trustee......

Anyways, when it was our time, we went up, sat down, he asked for our license and soc. sec, cards...raised our right hand to be put under oath......asked us the questions about if we read the petition, signed it, etc..all the general questions...asked us if we read the paper posted outside, if we understand what a reaffiramtion agreemnt is, if we understood the different chapters of bankruptcy, asked us to state our full names, asked if we own a home(we rent), asked us where we work/what we do, asked us if we only have the bank account listed, asked us for our tax returns, which the assitant looked at and returned to me, asked us what brought us to file bankruptcy, which i explained college/sickness etc, and asked me if I went to law school, which puzzled me why he would aske that?? That was it, no bank statements, no questions about property etc....NOTHING....does this seem to indicate we are in the clear since he didn't ask any questions about anything.....we were only up there for maybe 2-3 minutes

[sunshine08]

I think you are pretty much in the clear. How dumb is it to wear diamonds to bankruptcy court?? (I'll bet they didn't list it on the petition) If the attorney wasn't much help to them, he maybe part of the reason that the trustee questioned so much. It is always good to do a little research on who you hire to do a job for you.
I was very surprised at wha many people wore to court when we went. Go figure. Clean, decent and appropriate clothes do say alot about the person. I think the trustee looks at those things, as well as the demeanor you have before he calls you up there. Our trustee was constantly observing the audience.
I too, don't think you can be to prepared. Better to have the information at hand than for him to ask for it and make him take another look at the case. Glad your meeting went well.