Paranoia is settling in over ch. 7 filing and forgetting to list personal property!!!

[Bella2]

I filed ch. 7 no asset in March and I have my 341 in May. I am extremely nervous. I was rushed by my lawyer into filing because of several lawsuits from creditors. I have a little over 30k in cc debt due to unemployment. I own my home but i am underwater by about $210,000 and we plan on keeping our home because we had our mortgage modified. I forgot to list some personal property in my petition (nothing is valued over $200.00) and my lawyer told me that the trustee does not care about minor items such as x-mas decorations, kids bikes, coffee pot, etc. My lawyer said that the trustee is looking for cars, boats, antiques, and items of value. I am feeling uneasy because I forgot to list some personal property. Is it looked down upon by the trustee if I amend my petition to add personal property of little or no value? My lawyer told me that I was being paranoid and that I don't need to worry about those items.

[frogger]

My lawyer told me that I was being paranoid and that I don't need to worry about those items.

Provided that these items are basically of no value, ie - toaster, bicycle, etc., then you have nothing to worry about, just as your lawyer states. If you are worried about them however, feel free to bring them up at your 341 to the trustee and tell the trustee that you neglected to list your bicycle, toaster, etc.

(Now...... go drink a cold one and chill)

[daylate]

i agree with Frogger and your attorney

[JackBondLove]

I listed *everything* I had, right down to the number of forks & knives, etc. There is something to be said for being comprehensive - the trustee can simply gloss over it. You can always bring an updated list to the 341 meeting, and as long as there are no big ticket items, the trustee will just blow it off.

[Bella2]

Thanks!! I need too!!! Another question....what about a cash gift received after filing?!? My lawyer said it was ok and she never said that it had to be reported or up to what amount can be accepted. I don't think that I educated myself enough since I was rushed to file and my lawyer was and is very vague and she doesn't explain things well. What if I have someone else's personal property at my house. I am so confused and I can never get a hold of my lawyer to ask her my questions. The only person that I can ask is her paralegal. I am so irritated!! Thanks!!

[daylate]

Other people's property no problem- I think you're ok on the gift too-unless it is for a significant amount. For example, trustee asks at 341 "has anything changed since your filing?" -You say-just 100k I got as a gift from my mother-could be a problem. keep hounding the attorney. go sit in her office till she responds. Good luck.

[Bella2]

Thank you! This bankruptcy has made me second guess everything I do since I have filed. I was rushed to file my BK and my taxes by my attorney and I was going over my tax return and I think I messed that up! What is the tax return for in a BK? Do they just want to verify your income? Thanks everyone!

[daylate]

They want to see if you are getting a large refund-if you are they may take it if you can't exempt it. Depends on the trustee. I'm not familiar with CA exemptions but if your refund is large and you can exempt it but haven't yet then you may want to file an amendment to do so. I think 1k or so is the point at which a trustee becomes interested. But again, nothing is certain.

[pikaroth]

I just want to say that at my 341 the trustee WAS asking people about items not listed on their petitions. Everything from clothing to electronics. I made a lengthy post about my 341, and while I can ONLY speak for my situation and my trustee, I am not exagerating when I say she was asking people why they did not list even the clothing on their backs. Now, I am not saying she cared about, say, a coffee pot, but she really, really got upset when nothing was listed for a particular section. I'm with JackBondLove - I listed every single thing I could think of because I figure I'm doing this once, so I'm going to do it right. On the other hand, your attorney, I am certain, knows how things go where you're at, so I would defer to him in this situation, but I did have to at least say what I saw.

[CoBelle]

I wasn't worried about my 'stuff' because its all over 10 and mostly over 25 years old.
BUT
since i had first filed a 13 using a lawyer I assumed that she at least got the schedules right, so when I filed a 7 without her (after my 13 was dismissed) I just copy/pasted most of the stuff. I just found out, from the trustee, taht I was supposed to list a lawsuit filed before the bk on schedule B..I listed the lawsuit (I'm not sure where tho) but I didn't know that since I counterclaimed that this was a possible future asset.

So even with the best of intentions, you can miss or forget (unless they are racing bikes!) aren't in that genre. Relax.

I suspect that my trustee could cry foul at my not listing the counterclaim, but she indicated that although it might result in my losing any exemption for it, and that she might settle it for much less than I would have won, that she isn't thinking that I did it deliberately.

[frogger]

I think listing or not listing the items is trustee dependent. On our petition, it was listed as $xx.xx dollars for clothing, $xx.xx dollars for household goods, etc. Nothing was itemized and nothing was questioned. As long as the big $$ items were listed for the trustee to review, the little stuff just didn't matter.

[Bella2]

Ok. So you mean cars, homes, boats, land, bank accounts, etc....so basically anything with a title, loan, deed, etc??

[daylate]

I think it is like frogger said, trustee (and more likely-district) related. We listed most things individually but then lumped things like "small kitchen appliances"=$XX,
books, $xx, miscellaneous knickknacks-$xx.

[cofer22]

I totally understand about being somewhat paranoid. We have our intake meeting with our lawyer this week. We did our inventory, and I am a little worried about a few things. I have 3 guitars. I listed them as Assorted Guitars with garage sale values. The same with Bikes. We have 6 bikes. We listed them as assorted bikes and gave a realistic value. I'm going to ask the lawyer about the values and see if I need to make any changes. Hopefully, I'm just being paranoid due to just wanting to get this over with, but it is starting to wear on me a little. My wife says not worry. Her point is that we're paying this attny. to guide us and that thier job is to find the possible problems.