341 - all done! My 'review.'

[Shanfish]

Great report! I had my 341 yesterday and it was much like yours... we (DH and I) were scheduled for 9:30 and didn't get called until about 10:45. Were with the trustee for less than 2 minutes, given what had happened before us I was scared to death!! I couldn't believe some of the things people told the trustee and not their lawyers or how unprepared some of the lawyers were!

[discouraged]

Great report! Thank you. Makes me happy that I listed every little thing in my house. The paralegal said he'd never seen that before and I said - I want to make sure if anyone walked in my house, they'd see exactly what I put down.

Soooo much better to just be honest from the start. My 341 is next Wednesday and although I feel fine about it today, know I'll also be a basketcase by the time it finally gets here. Do feel better after reading your report. Thank you again.

[free2breathe]

Congrats on the Report of No Distribution, pikaroth. It's all done except for getting your discharge papers Way to go!

[Freddy03]

Thanks so much for going into detail! This will help me a lot when I have to go to the Fairwinds building

Congrats!

[tobee43]

PIKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what an EXCELLENT short story............i was sitting at the edge of my seat the entire time.......you have MISSED you're calling.......you should be a writter!!!!!!

i'm soooooooooo happy this is over for you......and it sounds like you ARE in the 60 day club!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....

[csonly]

pikaroth - wow. First of all, that many cases in 1 day is a lot, at our 341, the trustee mentioned he had 44 cases and commented that shows how bad our economy is. We pretty much live in the middle of nowhere too. I'd say that trustee was a good one, as she wouldn't let anything slip. I think they also know what attorneys to pick apart too. Luckily, our attorney is also a personal friend of the trustee, not that that made it easier on us, but he treated our attorney with more respect than the others. At our 341, it seems that certain attorneys had a bad reputation and a lot was questioned in their cases.

It sounds as though you are definitely in the 60 day club and watch for a "report of no distribution" on pacer.

Also, you handled yourself very professionally and that is the best way to go. Bad attitudes are not good at the 341.

Congratulations!!!

[BKOnce]

Amazing Grace!

Either you must have a excellent memory.. or you have noted down all these 341 interviews going along real fast. Wow... super

[pikaroth]

Thanks to everyone who keeps responding. It makes me feel it was worth while posting it (though I notice some typos in there now!). I was exchanging some PMs with a user here who will be going to the same place I was, and doing so reminded me of a few more items that I feel it worth pointing out for those that have not been through this before, and again, this is just what I saw and went through here in Orlando:

Ensure the trustee has ALL the paperwork he or she asked for at least a week in advance. My trustee wanted the last three months of bank statements from everyone, and I previously didn't write about how many people did not have theirs to her in time. She would *****NOT***** accept them on the spot. Many people, and even some attorneys, had them with them, but she said she wanted them e-mailed and she had no time to go through the stuff now. She advised them that they should have followed directions. It appears the only exception she made was for the one attorney that sent them certified mail and 'argued' with her, but that struck me as a huge, giant acception to the rule.

I don't know if this mattered at all, but do your best to dress business casual. I wore decent shows, Dockers, and a polo shirt and belt, combed my hair, and that was that. I saw no one (minus attorneys) in a suit or anything, but I did see some in a shirt and tie, many others dressed more or less like I did, but there are some that, no joke, had cut off jean shorts with tank tops. Some just had white undershirts with stains on them, etc. Now, technically this should not matter, and I get that, but not knowing what is going through the trustee's head, who knows if this may (right or wrong) make her pick at things more. Again, just from what I witnessed, I'd say business casual is where you should try to be at.

This is a big one: she questioned nearly EVERYONE on where they got the value of their automobile(s). She would not accept Blue Book or some other stuff. I forget the exact name, so forgive me, but it was something like "ATA" or some such that was required. I admit I left out of my case that she did ask me that quesiton, and my attorney immediately answered that one for me, and she moved on. I didn't even have to look at him for support, which I would have had to do had he not jumped in. Other attorneys had no idea or said one of two or three other things that give a vehicle value, but she reminded them that the government would only accept "ATA." I am probably off on ATA, maybe ACA? Something like that. So please ensure your vehicles are valued using whatever program is required.

The more I think about yesterday, along with what I have read here and what my attorney said, the more I just want to tell everyone currently going through this: be honest. That's it. Do not hide or leave out anything.

With that, I'm off to work for my first day in a long, long, long time where this will not be on my mind. As I had said before, I admit, and it kills me to do so, this has hampered me at work having it always on my mind, and that, of course, made me even more upset that this could get to me that much, so I am looking forward to heading in!

[Dmax]

It could be 'NADA' for car values.

[SunshineGal]

I was told they wanted NADA *retail* values! We ended up paying for a certified appraisal and it came in at about 66% of the NADA number.

[Freddy03]

I'm in FL and my attorney told me to take my car to Carmax and get it apprasied. I hope that works.

[tobee43]

Thanks to everyone who keeps responding. It makes me feel it was worth while posting it (though I notice some typos in there now!). I was exchanging some PMs with a user here who will be going to the same place I was, and doing so reminded me of a few more items that I feel it worth pointing out for those that have not been through this before, and again, this is just what I saw and went through here in Orlando:

Ensure the trustee has ALL the paperwork he or she asked for at least a week in advance. My trustee wanted the last three months of bank statements from everyone, and I previously didn't write about how many people did not have theirs to her in time. She would *****NOT***** accept them on the spot. Many people, and even some attorneys, had them with them, but she said she wanted them e-mailed and she had no time to go through the stuff now. She advised them that they should have followed directions. It appears the only exception she made was for the one attorney that sent them certified mail and 'argued' with her, but that struck me as a huge, giant acception to the rule.

I don't know if this mattered at all, but do your best to dress business casual. I wore decent shows, Dockers, and a polo shirt and belt, combed my hair, and that was that. I saw no one (minus attorneys) in a suit or anything, but I did see some in a shirt and tie, many others dressed more or less like I did, but there are some that, no joke, had cut off jean shorts with tank tops. Some just had white undershirts with stains on them, etc. Now, technically this should not matter, and I get that, but not knowing what is going through the trustee's head, who knows if this may (right or wrong) make her pick at things more. Again, just from what I witnessed, I'd say business casual is where you should try to be at.

This is a big one: she questioned nearly EVERYONE on where they got the value of their automobile(s). She would not accept Blue Book or some other stuff. I forget the exact name, so forgive me, but it was something like "ATA" or some such that was required. I admit I left out of my case that she did ask me that quesiton, and my attorney immediately answered that one for me, and she moved on. I didn't even have to look at him for support, which I would have had to do had he not jumped in. Other attorneys had no idea or said one of two or three other things that give a vehicle value, but she reminded them that the government would only accept "ATA." I am probably off on ATA, maybe ACA? Something like that. So please ensure your vehicles are valued using whatever program is required.

The more I think about yesterday, along with what I have read here and what my attorney said, the more I just want to tell everyone currently going through this: be honest. That's it. Do not hide or leave out anything.

With that, I'm off to work for my first day in a long, long, long time where this will not be on my mind. As I had said before, I admit, and it kills me to do so, this has hampered me at work having it always on my mind, and that, of course, made me even more upset that this could get to me that much, so I am looking forward to heading in!

pikaroth....i'm so glad you combed your hair...(u really are so cute)...

really we had a female trustee and we just brought in the kelly blue book "fair" value...since our auto had 75k plus miles on it.

we also wore casual business...neat and clean and also experience seeing those in tee shirts etc. i think disrespectful to the court.


Dmax...and SG...what exactly is the NADA????....OH...i don't even know!!! we just handed over the printed copy of the kelly blue book value and a picture of the car. she was fine with it...but that was a while ago.

i do believe they are getting strict about things...really.

[Dmax]

Dmax...and SG...what exactly is the NADA????....OH...i don't even know!!! we just handed over the printed copy of the kelly blue book value and a picture of the car. she was fine with it...but that was while ago.i do believe they are getting strict about things...really.

NADA stands for "National Automobile Dealers Association".

[tobee43]

NADA stands for "National Automobile Dealers Association".

thanks...so that is now what is required by the trustee's...??? i think it's getting tougher and tougher...

what's the general difference between the NADA and Kelly's Blue Book?...(sorry just wondering)..

[Dmax]

...what's the general difference between the NADA and Kelly's Blue Book?...(sorry just wondering)..

Sorry... no idea!