The meeting with the Trustee took about 5 minutes. She did not ask my wife a single question. Almost all of the questions were regarding my business, which I closed in December of 2005. The trustee requested copies of my business tax returns for the last 2 years, and reserved the right to call an additional meeting.
The truth of the matter is I did not leave the 341 Meeting with anything resembling the euphoria of others on this forum. On the flip side, I did not lose a single bit of sleep anticipating this meeting either. I guess I realized that this meeting only starts the clock for creditor objections and does not represent a major hurdle in my quest for a successful Chapter 7.
My sense of relief may have also been tarnished by the fact that after the 341 Meeting my attorney brought to my attention that two creditors have sent preliminary paperwork objecting to the discharge. After some research I have come to the understanding that these were attempts to bully me into reaffirming credit card debts. The letters came from Discover Card and MBNA, and they both reference transactions that they had defined as cash advances. Both transactions took place over 140 days prior to filing. The truth of the matter is that these were balance transfers paid directly from Discover and MBNA to other credit cards, and were noted as such on my credit card statements. My attorney has successfully argued in past cases that balance transfer to lower interest rate by their very nature imply an intent to repay, and as such do not constitute fraud under the statute.
I think it is important to understand that every inquiry by the Trustee is motivated by the pursuit to find assets. This being the case I hope that when she looks at my company tax returns for the last two years and sees losses totaling $125,000 she will be convinced that the company had no assets left. This seems to be the opinion of my attorney as well.
Conclusion:
Everyone is right when they say “The 341 Meeting is nothing.” However, I don’t believe we realize the full extent of this statement. It is truly “nothing.” I did not see it as positive or negative. I mean seriously, what really changed from before to after the meeting? Creditors can still object, trustee can still dig deeper for assets, US Trustee can decide to cause trouble, etc. The only thing I see that changed is the clock has started for the Creditors to object, nothing more.
The truth of the matter is I did not leave the 341 Meeting with anything resembling the euphoria of others on this forum. On the flip side, I did not lose a single bit of sleep anticipating this meeting either. I guess I realized that this meeting only starts the clock for creditor objections and does not represent a major hurdle in my quest for a successful Chapter 7.
My sense of relief may have also been tarnished by the fact that after the 341 Meeting my attorney brought to my attention that two creditors have sent preliminary paperwork objecting to the discharge. After some research I have come to the understanding that these were attempts to bully me into reaffirming credit card debts. The letters came from Discover Card and MBNA, and they both reference transactions that they had defined as cash advances. Both transactions took place over 140 days prior to filing. The truth of the matter is that these were balance transfers paid directly from Discover and MBNA to other credit cards, and were noted as such on my credit card statements. My attorney has successfully argued in past cases that balance transfer to lower interest rate by their very nature imply an intent to repay, and as such do not constitute fraud under the statute.
I think it is important to understand that every inquiry by the Trustee is motivated by the pursuit to find assets. This being the case I hope that when she looks at my company tax returns for the last two years and sees losses totaling $125,000 she will be convinced that the company had no assets left. This seems to be the opinion of my attorney as well.
Conclusion:
Everyone is right when they say “The 341 Meeting is nothing.” However, I don’t believe we realize the full extent of this statement. It is truly “nothing.” I did not see it as positive or negative. I mean seriously, what really changed from before to after the meeting? Creditors can still object, trustee can still dig deeper for assets, US Trustee can decide to cause trouble, etc. The only thing I see that changed is the clock has started for the Creditors to object, nothing more.
Comment