US Trustee extend case to see if I get a new job?

[tdawg]

Has anyone ever heard of the US Trustee extending a Chapter 7 case for someone that was making a high income, but then gets laid off to wait and see if that person gets another job earning the same high income again?

I met with my lawyer's assistant to give her all of the paperwork the other day. I am being laid off October 31st. I gave her the letter about this. She said we could file at the start of October, and put a note in section 17 that I am being laid off, so my income will change. She said that the Trustee may extend the case to see if I get a new job.

If I were to get a new job making the same income I do now, my schedule I - schedule J might force me into a Chapter 13. However, with the job market the way it is currently, I don't think I'd be able to get a job making the same income. I'm thinking probably 80 - 90% of what I'm currently earning is what I'd be able to get a new job making.

I was originally thinking that I should be in no big hurry to rush out and get a new job, and that it might be better until I waited until after my 341 (or even after discharge). However, now I'm thinking that I should really start looking now, and try to get a new job. That way, I don't think the trustee could have any grounds to try to "extend my case to see if I get a job making the same salary I am right now". Since it would in all likelihood not be earning as much as I am now, I wouldn't have to worry about being forced into a Chapter 13 or the Trustee extending my case a month or two. Plus, of course it would be good to start bringing in $$ for my family to live off of instead of trying to make due with unemployment (which would barely cover my mortgage). Then I'll be in a much better position after my Chapter 7 is discharged.

I just want to get this over with ASAP so I won't have to be under their scrutiny.

Thoughts?

[nc73]

Well you could try finding another job, but in this economy it will be very hard.

[HHM]

Trustee's cannot extend case to see if you get a new job. They would have to prove some sort of bad faith/underemployment.

But in this economy, you may want to start looking.

[hurtininaz]

My husband and i are both unemployed. Of course we will find jobs, trustee did not say a word about it.

[tdawg]

Thanks for the replies. I was kind of surprised when she said that the trustee could extend the case, too. I am going to start looking for a job (kind of tough while I'm still working, though). But I'm trying to do as much as I can for now. It seems to be the consensus here though that if I can't find a job, I don't have to worry. I feel like I'm in such a weird world here trying to figure out how everything I do will be interpreted. I'm sure a lot of other people feel the same way. I guess that's why I'll be so glad once it's discharged. :-)

[dspii]

The way I understand it is.....the law states that the day you file, they will look at the six months prior for income, all the assets you own or transfered within "X" period of time and of course your current liabilities. After the day you file, with the exception of a few things like an inheritance, any earnings you make or gifts you receive are yours and the trustee cannot take them. This is because they are legally not part of the bk estate. Anything (within the law) before you file is fair game and after you file is not.

[justbroke]

She said that the Trustee may extend the case to see if I get a new job.

Yet another reason not to take legal advice from the paralegal.

The Trustee can only extend a discharge for "cause". They cannot extend the case based on things in the future or something "potential". This is the same line they use to say that even though you "might" get a new car, you can't use the car expense. The court can only consider facts that are before it and have already occurred.

I think HHM covers the type of "cause" that they could assert, but you could counter that. If it's bad faith, they could just file a "bad faith" dismissal and forget the whole extension part.

[AngelinaCat]

Dspii gave a very synopsis of the situation. At our 341, when the Trustee asked which one of us got the Unemployment Compensation, I told him that it was me. Nothing was said about me finding another job. We filed on 12/28/2007 and my FT job ended on 9/30/2007, though I had been given notice a couple of months before.

Now what was interesting was after we were delcared an Asset Case, and we were offered the opportunity to buy back our non-exempt stuff from the BK estate, there was wording in the order to the effect that the 'buy-back' was expected to be fund by Mrs. 'Cat getting another FT job....