Tax refund

[icee65]

Our chapter 7, no assets, was discharged on 1/26/2012. Our lawyer sent us a letter after that instructing us to send our returns to him for his review, is this normal. I hope he doesn't charge for this. Our refund is $1,826. Will the trustee turn us into an asset case and take our refund because our case isn't closed yet????

[JessMN]

Very possible - and that may even be the reason the case isn't closed yet. I was discharged in August, not closed yet, and I'm still waiting to hear if I have to give up a portion of my return. Think of it this way - your return is money you made last year and the trustee is entitled to a portion equal to the amount you earned before your filing date. So I filed on May 23rd which is around 40% of the year which means the trustee is entitled to take 40% of my return. Unless he specifically abandons it or your exempted it, he most likely will take it.

ETA: My philosophy is that I would GLADLY give him the whole darn thing - still way cheaper than what was discharged in bk!