341 Yesterday
I had my 341 hearing yesterday in the Western Washington District Federal Courthouse. It was an enlightening experience and one that I worried about tremendously before it occurred. I'll try and recount as much as possible here so that it may help others that have 341's coming up.
It started out with about 25-30 of us all scheduled to be there at 1230 in the afternoon. We arrived and went into the courthouse and waited. The trustee came in and gave us a speech about how to be truthful and fully disclose any claims, etc that we might have pending. He was very friendly and helpful throughout the hearing to all of us that had filed.
My wife and I were the only ones there with no representation from an attorney(I used the form7 software to prepare my bk). Coincidentally, or not, we were scheduled to go last, so we had the benefit of watching all the other 341's before ours. There was a standard set of questions that he asked each of the bk filers that went forward.
1. State your name and address for the record
2. Is everything truthful in your bk filing?
3. Do you have any outstanding claims that you may get money from?
4. Have you purchased a car in the last six months?
5. Have you exchanged money with a relative or friend in the last six months?
6. Have you ever filed bankruptcy before?
7. Did you recieve the information sheet on bankruptcy?
He asked me one additional question, and that was when we had moved to Oregon. After we answered the questions he proclaimed that our bk was going to be a no asset distribition case and wished us luck. I saw no benefit to having an attorney present except for the more complicated cases where people had houses or businesses that were involved with their bankruptcies. The people that had houses or car payments were questioned more thoroughly and I could see the benefit of an attorney present for some of them, but not all.
One guy who was there was for a continuation of a prior 341. From what I could gather from the trustee, this guys wife got emotional and walked out of the 341 meeting prior to this. The guy returned but his wife didn't for the secord hearing. The trustee concluded the 341 even though she wasn't present at the second hearing but stated that he may subpeana the wife in the future if he has any additional questions about their bk. It was interesting to watch and I thought that he let them off easy. He could of easily dismissed the bk!
No creditors showed up for any of the proceedings during my 341. In fact, no creditors were in the courthouse at all. I thought for sure one or two would show up for mine, but that was not the case. I feel very lucky that we had such a cool trustee, he was very professional and helpful to everyone. He even told an attorney at one point to amend a return for one guy so that he could keep some money. He also counseled another couple that they really should consider dumping there mobile home because they owed way more than it was worth, he told them that now would be the perfect time to get out of that.
I expected that the trustee would be aggressive at trying to collect money from all of us, but that was not the case.
I showed up with all kinds of documentation that I thought he may request, but there was no request for any additional information. Tax returns of any kind were not mentioned during any of the proceedings.
It took me and my wife 8 hours of driving from Oregon to Washington to go to the hearing. And it took 8 hours of driving once we got done at the courthouse to get back! We drove through ice and snow and it was a really grueling trip. But in the end it was worth it, cause I now see a light at the end of the tunnel. So much stress is gone now that the hearing is over with. I don't expect any objections to take place in the next 60 days, so now I move onto the next phase, which is to watch Pacer and wait for the update.
I want to thank everyone that has helped me with questions throughout this long process. Anyone that is worrying about an upcoming 341 like I had should relax a little, cause it ain't as bad as you think it will be!
Craigerzz
Soon to be discharged!
It started out with about 25-30 of us all scheduled to be there at 1230 in the afternoon. We arrived and went into the courthouse and waited. The trustee came in and gave us a speech about how to be truthful and fully disclose any claims, etc that we might have pending. He was very friendly and helpful throughout the hearing to all of us that had filed.
My wife and I were the only ones there with no representation from an attorney(I used the form7 software to prepare my bk). Coincidentally, or not, we were scheduled to go last, so we had the benefit of watching all the other 341's before ours. There was a standard set of questions that he asked each of the bk filers that went forward.
1. State your name and address for the record
2. Is everything truthful in your bk filing?
3. Do you have any outstanding claims that you may get money from?
4. Have you purchased a car in the last six months?
5. Have you exchanged money with a relative or friend in the last six months?
6. Have you ever filed bankruptcy before?
7. Did you recieve the information sheet on bankruptcy?
He asked me one additional question, and that was when we had moved to Oregon. After we answered the questions he proclaimed that our bk was going to be a no asset distribition case and wished us luck. I saw no benefit to having an attorney present except for the more complicated cases where people had houses or businesses that were involved with their bankruptcies. The people that had houses or car payments were questioned more thoroughly and I could see the benefit of an attorney present for some of them, but not all.
One guy who was there was for a continuation of a prior 341. From what I could gather from the trustee, this guys wife got emotional and walked out of the 341 meeting prior to this. The guy returned but his wife didn't for the secord hearing. The trustee concluded the 341 even though she wasn't present at the second hearing but stated that he may subpeana the wife in the future if he has any additional questions about their bk. It was interesting to watch and I thought that he let them off easy. He could of easily dismissed the bk!
No creditors showed up for any of the proceedings during my 341. In fact, no creditors were in the courthouse at all. I thought for sure one or two would show up for mine, but that was not the case. I feel very lucky that we had such a cool trustee, he was very professional and helpful to everyone. He even told an attorney at one point to amend a return for one guy so that he could keep some money. He also counseled another couple that they really should consider dumping there mobile home because they owed way more than it was worth, he told them that now would be the perfect time to get out of that.
I expected that the trustee would be aggressive at trying to collect money from all of us, but that was not the case.
I showed up with all kinds of documentation that I thought he may request, but there was no request for any additional information. Tax returns of any kind were not mentioned during any of the proceedings.
It took me and my wife 8 hours of driving from Oregon to Washington to go to the hearing. And it took 8 hours of driving once we got done at the courthouse to get back! We drove through ice and snow and it was a really grueling trip. But in the end it was worth it, cause I now see a light at the end of the tunnel. So much stress is gone now that the hearing is over with. I don't expect any objections to take place in the next 60 days, so now I move onto the next phase, which is to watch Pacer and wait for the update.
I want to thank everyone that has helped me with questions throughout this long process. Anyone that is worrying about an upcoming 341 like I had should relax a little, cause it ain't as bad as you think it will be!
Craigerzz
Soon to be discharged!
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