60 Day Club

Our 341 meeting was this morning.  (If you don't know what that is:  it is a meeting that occurs roughly 30 days after you file your bankruptcy papers.  You meet with the US Trustee of your county who looks over your financial life to see if there is anything of value that can be seized and sold to perhaps make up for the thousands of dollars you likely can't pay to your creditors.  You never, ever lie to a Trustee...and if you are in the kind of situation Tall and I are, why on earth would you anyway?!?)


Went in feeling anxious and a little sick to my stomach, it's just a stressful thing to have to face.

We arrived about an hour early to watch a few hearings. Our lawyer arrived about 30 minutes before our hearing. I have to say, it pays to have a good lawyer. He was completely prepared with all of our paperwork. When the trustee asked for bank statements, etc..."I believe you already have those"...and of course, the trustee did.

Then our lawyer notified him of an update to the filing (our 2009 amended return which we anticipated over $1300 coming back to us turned out instead to be a $350 bill from the IRS - the irony was not lost on the trustee and he gave us a very sympathetic "oh man, that really sucks" kind of look and kind of chuckled along with us...meh...that's just the way it goes sometimes).

We went through all the expected questions and no creditor objections arose (*whew*). Finally, the trustee says "well, given your current situation, the fact that there are no creditor objections, and considering this new information regarding the IRS, I'm deeming this a no asset case. You are dismissed."

Took us about 8 minutes from start to finish.

I have to say, because of our excellent attorney and  www.bkforum.com, Tall and I knew what to expect and how to properly present ourselves to make the best use of the trustees very precious time (sadly, he had a lot of cases to hear today , so many people going through this).