Asking for Exempt property?

[daniellep]

Can a trustee ask for property, even if it's exempt and you have a large exemption allowance left?

[FilingOnMyOwn]

He may, but if the exemption is valid than it would be illegal for him to do so. I can't see them taking the risk unless they think its worth more than the stated value.

[SinkingFast]

One attny explained this to us.

We don't have enough exemption $$$ to completely cover our vehicles. That attny said he would sprinkle the exemptions around in such a way as to make the vehicles unattractive to the Trustee.

Evidently, if a Trustee takes something you have exempted, they have got to be pretty sure of themselves when they do. When the property is sold, the Trustee has to pay the BK Filer the amount of their exemption right off the top, in full.

Say you have an old beater car that's worth $800. You've already used the bulk of your exemption on a car you do wanna keep, but you have $500 in exemption left. You can put the $500 of exemption on the old beater. If the Trustee takes your old beater to sell at auction, he/she has to pay you $500, off the top, out of what the car brought at sale. The Trustee has to be fairly certain the car will actually bring $800 or more at auction to be worth their while to take the car.

What ever you exempted, the Trustee must think is worth way more than you valued it at. Because when the Trustee sells it, he/she has to pay you the amount that you claimed for exemption.