Asset just sold, now what?

[firsttime]

Chapter 7, dishcarged in May 2012, no asset. Turned to an Asset case in December 2012. Was sent a detailed accounting of cash the trustee wanted (% of cash in pocket, monies received from asset) and then told that the asset was going up for auction. We just bought it in auction today. Now what? When will all of this end? Timeline would really help.

[justbroke]

There is no specific timeline, done to the month or week, for asset cases. An asset case can take a year or two to be completely "administered". Such is the term... administered. The Trustee collects the assets, holds or contracts someone to do any auctions, collects the proceeds, and then distributes the money. Once that is all done, the Trustee can then complete their audit and file their Final Distribution Report.

The discharge is what you really wanted and is what got rid of your debt. The administrative part can be boring, long, and annoying, but it is part of the process.

If the Trustee has completely collected all assets, held ALL auctions, received ALL funds (including those from any lawsuit/adversary that the Trustee started to claw back preferences and transfers), then the distribution starts. Once the distribution has started, it should be, in my estimate, 60-120 days for the case to administratively close.

[firsttime]

the trustee already did, I guess, the first part where they laid everything out and "ok'd" everything but the asset that they said they were going to sell. Sold it today. So you're saying that it will be approx up to 4 months or so for our case to be closed? They have to distrubute the monies and then administer it? Is this the end, or can the trustee go back and do more stuff?

[justbroke]

Let me answer the second part first. The Trustee can ALWAYS come back for assets (including "late" discovered assets), if there were assets which should have been administered, but the Trustee did not know about! But let's not dwell on that. That is an extremely rare thing. (Typically, once your asset case is administered and closed... it is done!)

So, the Trustee sold the last piece of property. Once they receive the proceeds, they then decide how to disperse the money. They send checks out to all of the creditors based on priority. Many Trustee offices only send out checks once a month, towards the end of the month. Once the checks are sent out, the Trustees wait up to 60 days for the checks to CLEAR or be RETURNED! (You would be surprised how many times checks are actually sent back!) Then the Trustee finalizes the accounting, makes any payment(s) to you, the debtor, for any overages, and then creates a Final Distribution Report. The Trustee then files that report and a request to close the case as it had fully been administered.

Yes, that takes time! Again, I estimate 60-120 days.