I kind of pushed aside the idea about americans being in trouble and the economy slumping. drove my friend to a 341 meeting this morning since he needed a ride and car was repoed. i was shocked when i went in there. i was thinking he would be the only one there, entranceway looking in you could see many people, and not the type of people i was expecting to see. 341 meeting by the way is a asset meeting for a chapt 7 bankruptcy.
The US Trustee's job is to determine if the debtor has any assets, and if he does, to liquidate them to pay the debtor's creditors. The Trustee asks a series of questions of the debtor (do you have any stocks/bonds/safe deposit boxes/life insurance with cash value/winning lottery tickets/; have you given away any property to family/transferred title of anything/paid a creditor more than a regular payment in the last 60 days) under oath. Also, creditors are allowed to question the debtor under oath.
The Trustee gets paid a flat fee per case, and a percentage of the assets he can discover and liquidate.
My wife is a attorney and used to practise mainly bankruptcy. Made a lot of money during Reagan's 2nd term and during George the 1st's. Lost money during Clinton. Business was picking up nicely with George the 2nd but then the repubs gutted the bankruptcy statutes by making the credit card bankers about equal to collateralized lenders. Just like they were paid to do by the credit card bankers.
Its all OK, shes back to oil and gas law now. That's what she loves anyway.
Its all OK, shes back to oil and gas law now. That's what she loves anyway.
