Questions regarding our chapter 7 case

[tobee43]

shoot...teek..(and i won't use a gun)....you might want to move out of state before filing...

we did....we lived in three states before we found one that was more debtor friendly then we filed.

[teek76]

(computer froze and I double posted...see the last comment to Tom for latest post)

[teek76]

Tom,
Big troubles indeed. I still do not understand why this was not discussed in more detail prior to my husband signing it and it being sent to court. There may/may not be anything we can do to make it better or work to our advantage but a heads-up would have been great.
Our attorney's office just said that at our meeting on the 7th we would look at amending the schedules and working on the exemption issues. Not sure if they know something we don't or not, but I am worried. My husband on the other hand..is like.. take it all, let's just be done with it! Of course by all, I mean, he's not worried about the tools, vehicles, cash in bank etc..he is worried about keeping our home and our contents. As long as we have OUR roof over our head and we can lie down in our bed at night, he refuses to worry about the rest. I guess that is a GREAT mentality in some ways, but I am anxious and worry. Its emotional no matter how hard I try to make it business-like.. it's our life. It's our kids' lives. Everything is turning upside down and inside out and I thought this was supposed to be a 'new start' and RELIEF!?
I found this earlier, but have been unable to find any verification or to find out if there is anything to it...
"you use the ALA Code 6-10-126 for Household Goods, Personal Vehicle, Jewelry, Wearing Apparel etc (basically unlimited exemption) and ALA Code 6-10-6 as the Wild Card, you only want to use the Wild Card for anything that doesn't fit into the exemptions above, like Cash, Checking Accounts, Boat, etc."
That would be GREAT if so...but I'm kinda leary because this is the first I have heard of it...
Teek

[teek76]

This is off subject, but I have a question for anyone who feels like answering...
Concerning creditors.. I know that the bankruptcy code enforces that creditors not call, write, harass etc in terms of getting their money.
What about a creditor showing up on your job site and taking inventory of all tools or equipment within sight? Is that harassment of the debtor or does that matter?
This actually happened to my husband this evening and the creditor never directly said anything about paying him back, but rather, asked a couple of smarta#$ questions (like, 'so..you still own that dump trailer?..and then writes in his handy dandy notebook..'you still own such-n-such?' etc) My husband answered the questions he asked and said, "yeah, for now I do, but they're probably fixing to take it all.' And he simply wrote in his little notebook and said..'well they need to take it all.' So, he was smart enough to not mention paying him back, but he also was harassing him as well. I know we are going to mention this to our attorney, but wanted some insight first....My hands have been shaking for an hour.. I'm telling ya.. nervous.breakdown.in.the.making......

[SMinGA]

I'm not an atty - but my first instinct says that without going thru his atty, this creditor was in the wrong to have any contact w/ your husband.

[teek76]

Well, that's what I was thinking but wasn't sure. Especially since he wasn't there for a friendly meeting and the only reason he came was to intimidate him or get under his skin and snoop around a bit..looking to cause some trouble. We are fixing to amend our schedules anyway so I just told DH that he needs to be very thorough in listing tools etc even if its a listing separate from the total price in case he tries to stir up some drama. He hasn't worked for DH in over 2 years and the job site is in a different county all together from where both parties live. He had no business being there.

[teek76]

(decided to send this comment as a private message instead) ;)

[tobee43]

This is off subject, but I have a question for anyone who feels like answering...
Concerning creditors.. I know that the bankruptcy code enforces that creditors not call, write, harass etc in terms of getting their money.
What about a creditor showing up on your job site and taking inventory of all tools or equipment within sight? Is that harassment of the debtor or does that matter?
This actually happened to my husband this evening and the creditor never directly said anything about paying him back, but rather, asked a couple of smarta#$ questions (like, 'so..you still own that dump trailer?..and then writes in his handy dandy notebook..'you still own such-n-such?' etc) My husband answered the questions he asked and said, "yeah, for now I do, but they're probably fixing to take it all.' And he simply wrote in his little notebook and said..'well they need to take it all.' So, he was smart enough to not mention paying him back, but he also was harassing him as well. I know we are going to mention this to our attorney, but wanted some insight first....My hands have been shaking for an hour.. I'm telling ya.. nervous.breakdown.in.the.making......

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf

[teek76]

Thanks for the info.
It was my belief that if the creditors contacted you in any way regarding their debt during the bankruptcy that they would be in violation of the stay of protection for debtors. He did not directly say 'pay me my money' but came there for the sole purpose of intimidating or harassing him in regards to the debt/situation. I have emailed the attorney's office just to let them know what happened but have a feeling that we wont hear a reply from them since we have a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. I added it to the growing list of questions to ask ;) . I know in the beginning our attorney said that if any of our creditors bothered us after we filed, to let him know and he would go after them... that that's a big no-no. Just not sure about this situation. He was really careful not to directly tell him to pay him his money, but definitelyyyyy tried to intimidate or harass as if he was going to come after our belongings or make sure we reported everything accurately. I don't know. Guess we will find out for sure Tuesday.

[tobee43]

your right teek...they cannot after you filed...there is a "stay".

you need to contact this terrible atty's office and demand to speak to a senior partner and get some immediately attention to this matter...

now..teek...don't make me have to come there...please...i can't stand what they are doing to you...it's like you have been double victimized!

[tcreegan]

trespassing?

Hi teek76,

How about charging him with trespassing?

Document any creditor contact after the case is filed. Hand it over to your lawyer and get ready to see a BK judge ream out a new one for the creditor. Generally speaking BK judges are not happy with someone violating their order. You might even collect damages!!

Tom in Colo

[teek76]

Little update...
FINALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY heard from our attorney today !! He is in the office and is doing lots of work on DH's case today and that makes me feel so much better. He has worked our exemptions around so that our vehicles are now non exempt, but he feels that they will not want to fool with them. DH's work truck has significant damage and he has not repaired it because the repairs cost more than the truck is worth..(and the repair estimate is from a year ago and he has MORE damage now even from tire blowouts on the interstate.) ANYWAY.. he doesn't think that they will want the vehicles because with his not having worth and us having a lien on the two combined, there is little to fool with after the lien is paid off. I am hoping and crossing fingers that he is correct on that.
DH's tools were worked to where we could only claim app $500 of them, and he made sure to list that they are essential to the debtor's ability to work. He said that they may want us to buy back the difference, or they may see after reviewing the detailed list of tools (we are currently working on this) that it is not worth their time also. Again.. I HOPE he is correct. We shall see.
The wave runner is not an issue. He amended the paperwork as necessary, listed the buyer's info etc as needed and provided documentation of where the money was spent (used to catch up our mortgage...which we are exempting our home and have reaffirmed).
The only thing up in the air seems to be that our 341 has not been concluded and a date has not been set. There has been one creditor to request documents that the trustee had already requested (bank statements) but no objection has been filed..yet. We anticipate that the creditor and their attorney will show up for the upcoming objection to exemption hearing and are just hoping that he will see then, based on documented proof that we have no assets worth coming after, that he will not go thru with any objections or issues. Our deadline for objections is Sept 14th... we have the rest of today and then 7 more business days that creditors can file objections. Makes me weak in the stomach, but praying things will go smoothly and all will end soon. The trustee and their attorney have been reviewing our bank statements and documents and have had no issue whatsoever. The one issue was the documented sale of the wave runner to which we needed to answer a couple of questions and amend that info on the schedules. Now if we can just get thru to the 14th without any objections... I am trying not to get my hopes up because I know anything can happen at last minute. And this attorney would probably do it just for shock factor lol...

[tobee43]

that's great news teek!!!

and i'm certain the atty will work out all the kinks!!!

[ccsjoe]

Awesome teek!!!!!

[teek76]

Thanks guys..
Final countdown is on this week and the butterflies in the stomach come and go right now.. Meeting with attorney Tuesday..Hearing on Exemptions Thursday... Deadline for objections the following Tuesday... ***fingers crossed, prayers said, stomach ulcers in the making**