Need some hand-holding after 341, please

[Pandora]

I'd give back the car as well - not worth the hassle or possible added expenses of legal fees to fight it.

Oh yes, the dreaded "lawyer estimation" I remember that - when it was "estimated" our Ch. 13 payback would be "no more than" $450 a month at the first few meetings - then it actually jumped to $600! Talk about a shock to the system! When questioned it was stated "nothing is permanent until the paperwork is completed and reviewed by the Trustee" - i.e., 2 amended schedules later due to attorneys errors....

Hang in there -

[geye]

While I may be new to bankruptcy, I'm (unfortunately) not new to dealing with attorneys. Just because your attorney estimated $4000 means nothing at this point, so reminding him of that is not helpful. The only thing you can do now is deal with the hand you can actually play.
Good luck.

[JackBondLove]

As Vito in the old neighborhood would have said, "it's an offer you can't refuse." The only thing you can do is to negotiate a payment plan - or otherwise give up the car.

[justbroke]

In the end, matching wits with the Trustee is all about who has the money to spend litigating. You have to decide whether the costs to you in real $$$ is worth fighting. If your attorney will fight for free, realize that you still have at least $3,000 at stake (includes the $1,500 off the $9,000 valuation of the car and the $1,500 that the Trustee said he'd ignore).

[pandacb]

thanks for the advice.

[justbroke]

Unfortunately, you are an asset case and the Trustee is actually being nice, if you ask me. If the Trustee were to probe further, no telling what he'll find. If your attorney wants to fight with the Trustee, hopefully that doesn't end up costing you a lot more money.

Have you considered just surrendering the car and getting a used vehicle?

[newbie2]

Our 341 was last Thursday. Our attorney was not there, he sent his young associate. We knew we were an asset case because of our car. We also knew that the Trustee would want to glean everything else he could because we were already an asset's case. We thought he might want the old trailer we bought for our disabled daughter to live in, but he didn't mention that.

Our attorney said we would end up paying about $4k tops, for the car and the unpaid wages at time of filing. The Trustee asked for $9k. (he used top value private party Kelly BB for a six year old car).

I wrote about the "fraudulent transfer" of $1500 last week, too...from our tax refunds the second week of February, we paid $1500 towards our daughter's wedding. The trustee's interpretation of this was that we paid a debt (the photographer) that really belonged to our daughter and so it was a fraudulent transfer but he would look the other way on that (his words) if we paid $9k for our car without arguement. If we did argue, he said, he might have to revisit the "fraud." (his words) The wedding hasn't happened yet, there was never a debt at worst we gave a gift over the limit. Wouldn't have done it if we knew we had file bk 10 weeks later. The Trustee said we had one week to get back to him - that's tomorrow.

Before the 341, our attorney said not to try to negotiate anything with the Trustee - to leave that to him to do after the fact. Well, just after we got home from the 341 a paralegal from our attorney's office called to ask if we could come up with $7500 in 90 days. How would we? We were only allowed to have $400 at time of filing, we are bankrupt.

So, I emailed the attorney asking for his intervention and reminding him of his $4k estimate. No response. I phoned and asked for an appointment to talk to the attorney face to face. The secretary refused to schedule. I asked to talk to him over the phone and the secretary said that he had received the email and would get back to us last Friday afternoon.

We are feeling so beat up over all this. What should we do?

It sounds like you are between a rock and a hard place. If you can't come up with the money (redemption loan?) then I would just give the car up to get the discharge on everything else.

I'm sorry you have an attorney that isn't going to bat for you.

[pandacb]

Our 341 was last Thursday. Our attorney was not there, he sent his young associate. We knew we were an asset case because of our car. We also knew that the Trustee would want to glean everything else he could because we were already an asset's case. We thought he might want the old trailer we bought for our disabled daughter to live in, but he didn't mention that.

Our attorney said we would end up paying about $4k tops, for the car and the unpaid wages at time of filing. The Trustee asked for $9k. (he used top value private party Kelly BB for a six year old car).

I wrote about the "fraudulent transfer" of $1500 last week, too...from our tax refunds the second week of February, we paid $1500 towards our daughter's wedding. The trustee's interpretation of this was that we paid a debt (the photographer) that really belonged to our daughter and so it was a fraudulent transfer but he would look the other way on that (his words) if we paid $9k for our car without arguement. If we did argue, he said, he might have to revisit the "fraud." (his words) The wedding hasn't happened yet, there was never a debt at worst we gave a gift over the limit. Wouldn't have done it if we knew we had file bk 10 weeks later. The Trustee said we had one week to get back to him - that's tomorrow.

Before the 341, our attorney said not to try to negotiate anything with the Trustee - to leave that to him to do after the fact. Well, just after we got home from the 341 a paralegal from our attorney's office called to ask if we could come up with $7500 in 90 days. How would we? We were only allowed to have $400 at time of filing, we are bankrupt.

So, I emailed the attorney asking for his intervention and reminding him of his $4k estimate. No response. I phoned and asked for an appointment to talk to the attorney face to face. The secretary refused to schedule. I asked to talk to him over the phone and the secretary said that he had received the email and would get back to us last Friday afternoon.

We are feeling so beat up over all this. What should we do?