file a petition to the court to force the trustee to abandon the property

[justbroke]

The Trustee is not compelled to respond to questions when they are determining assets. Your attorney should well know what the Trustee is going after. It could be property that you abandoned. It could be some preferences. Some Trustees are nicer and some are either just mean or just really slow.

Note: that it can take a year or two to administer certain assets and deal with certain recoveries! a case will therefore stay open as long. If the Trustee filed an interim report, then what they are going after is almost always in that report. Perhaps if the Trustee won't cough up the interim report, you can get it from the OUST (Office of the United States Trustee.)

[tdawg]

It reads as though the Trustee found some problems with the perfection or the lien (mortgage) or some other issues and is probably seeking to "avoid" the lien and then sell the property free and clear of liens.

Even though this may be the Trustee's case, most Trustee's have failed when they tried to claim that a "mortgage backed security" (or asset backed security) is not valid because of the wrong assignments, etc, etc. However, if the Trustee sees a genuine issue, then they will usually go for the avoidance.

My case is still not closed. The last thing filed on pacer says "Trustee's Interim Report on File With the UST". My attorney has asked the trustee what assets he intends to administer in my case and the trustee does not respond. This seems so weird and I can't believe no one else has run into the same thing.

[justbroke]

It was changed to an asset case in July. Now the trustee is requesting all of the loan documents from me. I am still current with the mortgage, and I still owe more on the house than it is worth (negative equity). Has anyone seen anyone else run into this same situation?

It reads as though the Trustee found some problems with the perfection or the lien (mortgage) or some other issues and is probably seeking to "avoid" the lien and then sell the property free and clear of liens.

Even though this may be the Trustee's case, most Trustee's have failed when they tried to claim that a "mortgage backed security" (or asset backed security) is not valid because of the wrong assignments, etc, etc. However, if the Trustee sees a genuine issue, then they will usually go for the avoidance.

[tdawg]

My attorney did finally get back to me and he has been communicating with me now. My case is still not closed. It was changed to an asset case in July. Now the trustee is requesting all of the loan documents from me. I am still current with the mortgage, and I still owe more on the house than it is worth (negative equity). Has anyone seen anyone else run into this same situation?

[BCA2009]

In your next attempt at communication with your attorney, start with "I'd like to retain you for futher services."

He's probably ignoring you because he thinks you want free advice. It's still unprofessional not to return messages, but he probably get lots of post discharge questions and he just ingnores them all.

[tdawg]

You have NO grounds to request $$$ back from Atty. You hired him to obtain a disch of debt for you, and he accomplished that. Case over for him. Now what he should have been doing is lettin gyou know if you wanted him to do X, Y or Z he would do so for $ ____ per hr. With him Not communicating this info to you makes me wonder if Atty knows something regarding your case that he would rather not get into.. Doesn't make sense to me, but we are all missing some important facts here, I imagine.

Thanks for clearing that up. If he's learned something from the trustee or the bank, doesn't he have a duty to disclose that to me? By the way, I got a packet in the mail from him last weekend saying, "Congratulations on your discharge... if you have any issues please contact me immediately so I can take care of them while I am still your attorney..." It seemed like a form letter he sends out to all his clients after discharge.

It just totally contradicts his refusing to respond to me. I would be fine if he sends me a letter that says, "I'm no longer your attorney. You are on your own". But currently, he is listed as my attorney, and if the trustee or court sends something to him, I have no way of knowing. I imagine I should inform the court he's abandoned me since he has not sent me anything saying he is no longer my attorney and in pacer, he is still listed as my attorney.

[HHM]

1. It doesn't matter, for BK purposes, the value is set at the time the case is filed

2. No refund; an attorneys representation effectively ends at discharge absent an agreement to the contrary.

[Mensa1]

You have NO grounds to request $$$ back from Atty. You hired him to obtain a disch of debt for you, and he accomplished that. Case over for him. Now what he should have been doing is lettin gyou know if you wanted him to do X, Y or Z he would do so for $ ____ per hr. With him Not communicating this info to you makes me wonder if Atty knows something regarding your case that he would rather not get into.. Doesn't make sense to me, but we are all missing some important facts here, I imagine.

[tdawg]

Two questions I forgot to ask:

1. Should I get my house appraised by one (or more) realtors? I have this done for free.

2. Should I notify the court that my attorney has abandoned me in case they have communicated anything to him that he has not forwarded on to me? And would I have grounds to get my money back from him?

[HHM]

Sorry, reviewing your motion is beyond what I am willing to do. Try visiting a local legal aid office etc.

[tdawg]

It doesn't really matter what the motion is called, it is the substance of the motion that matters. If you want to call it Motion to Compel Abandonment, that is fine.

As for how to do it, about all I can say is visit a law library. There are very few "standard form motions". Keep in mind, all a Motion does is request the court to take a particular action. Think of it like writing a paper.
Part I (Introduction: don't actually call it "introduction" this is me helping give you context for what to do). This is a brief statement of what you want the court to do.
Part II Facts: Simply describe the background of what is going on. ONLY THE FACTS. e.g. Debtor filed BK on "x" date and was discharged on "X" Debtors primary residence has a current market value of X and the mortgages owed are "X". The trustee is attempting....etc etc
Part III (Discussion, the legal basis for your request): This is the difficult part, you need to identify the legal basis for your request. (This is where attorneys really come into play). This is the section that trips up most Pro Se Filers.
Part IV Conclusion: Simply restate what you want the court to do

That description above is a very simplified outline for a Motion.

Thank you very much for your response! Once I get this drafted, would you mind if I pm it to you and you can point out anything I'm doing that's obviously wrong? I'm hoping that once I file this, the trustee will abandon the property and not want to waste his time.

[HHM]

It doesn't really matter what the motion is called, it is the substance of the motion that matters. If you want to call it Motion to Compel Abandonment, that is fine.

As for how to do it, about all I can say is visit a law library. There are very few "standard form motions". Keep in mind, all a Motion does is request the court to take a particular action. Think of it like writing a paper.
Part I (Introduction: don't actually call it "introduction" this is me helping give you context for what to do). This is a brief statement of what you want the court to do.
Part II Facts: Simply describe the background of what is going on. ONLY THE FACTS. e.g. Debtor filed BK on "x" date and was discharged on "X" Debtors primary residence has a current market value of X and the mortgages owed are "X". The trustee is attempting....etc etc
Part III (Discussion, the legal basis for your request): This is the difficult part, you need to identify the legal basis for your request. (This is where attorneys really come into play). This is the section that trips up most Pro Se Filers.
Part IV Conclusion: Simply restate what you want the court to do

That description above is a very simplified outline for a Motion.

[tdawg]

You can file the Motion to Abandon on your own. Basically, your grounds would be that the asset has no value to the estate and to unsecured creditors and force this trustee to explain what he is doing to the judge. The situation does seem peculiar, a few others on this forum have mentioned a trustee taking over a short sale that was already in progress, but I have not really heard too much about trustees trying to take an upside down primary residence and selling it at short sale for a fee.

It's a motion to compel abandonment, right? Isn't a motion to abandon when you don't want to have an interest in a property anymore? By the way, where should I look to figure out how to do this? I've filed legal paperwork before several times (I'm divorced).

Does anyone see any downside to me filing a motion to compel abandonment on my own? I've heard various opinions throughout this thread. I would like to just get this over with, but I also don't want to piss the trustee off.

[HHM]

You can file the Motion to Abandon on your own. Basically, your grounds would be that the asset has no value to the estate and to unsecured creditors and force this trustee to explain what he is doing to the judge. The situation does seem peculiar, a few others on this forum have mentioned a trustee taking over a short sale that was already in progress, but I have not really heard too much about trustees trying to take an upside down primary residence and selling it at short sale for a fee.

[Mensa1]

Your situation is peculiar to say the least. One could theorize all sorts of reasons why the TT is doing what they are doing, but hard to pinpoint here. Maybe just making an example out of something in your case (no exemption claimed), or maybe some scheme to eventually re-open the case... again, all theory's which aren't helpful.

Hopefully nothing comes of the TT's effort to sell the property; but again, why would they go through this exercise if they didn't feel a reasonable chance of success? It would be of concern to me, especially if you wanted to keep the house, and you do apparently, so I would look for ways to nip it in the bud if it isn't already too late to do so. Legal representation is key here, IMO. Without it you may be looking back wondering what hit you from behind.