Sad news – we shut our doors/bankrupt/lawsuit

Thanks - it is scary and also a relief. Whatever the outcome whether the worst happens which I think is they will come after my bonus even though it is after the fact and our next year tax return - we will pay and be over with it (a bit poorer, but still o-k).

Or the best where we will have to buy back our cars and maybe pay out about $1,000 in other assets that we couldn't protect. So about $10 - 15k.

We had our hearing today. What a relief that part is over. We go into this room where there are about 40 chairs lined up throughout the room and a group of tables put together in the front of the room with a series of chairs circling these tables -the trustee is sitting in the front. They have several people slated for each half hour interval. We are the 9:30 group so we get to see the 9:00s. They are all consumer bankruptcy. The trustee calls one up, swears them in and checks her IDs and asks if there are any creditors there. I saw two situations where a creditor showed up. Most were done in 5 minutes. Fortunately the trustee seems to be reasonable and efficient.

I start to sweat - I sure hope our creditors are not there - there was one in particular that was a hard a$$ as our attorney called me - we tried to settle and he basically wanted us to have to file for bankruptcy - he wanted to ruin us was the attorneys take on him. They are asking questions like has something changed since you filed - like inheritance, lottery winnings, etc. I sweat again and ask the attorney if I need to tell him about my bonus. The attorney said only if he asks since we have a business bankruptcy he may not ask. He did mention we would probably be last of the 9:30s as we would take the longest.

Our turn … I am shaking. We go up - I breathe a sign of relief our creditors did not show up. The trustee asks some general type questions. He then asks the one about anything changing - I have to tell him about my bonus. He jots this down - seems he may go after this. I am particularly upset as I got a good bonus this year for a reward of working so hard. Any how he asks about our mutual funds we sold - we told him about the upgrades we did on our condo for resale as the brokers suggested since we are relocating to Texas in 6 months. He didn't have an issue with that. He also let us know that we could go ahead and sell as he would not hold up that even if the case is not closed. He asked about another savings we had and pretty much answered the question himself saying you used it slowly for monthly expenses for the business? Which we agreed. He mentioned our cars and their value and the fact that we would be liable for any value over 14k. Then he asked about 2007 tax return. He wants a copy of that as soon as we pull the info together. Looks like he wants to go after our refund as well even though this is not currently part of the practice in our state. Everything else we have is protected - equity on our home, retirement funds, and kids college funds. All done in 10 minutes.

We then sat down with our attorney and he explained he would fight to keep my bonus as when we filed there was no guarantee of a bonus (which is true). He also suggested that we try to take as less a refund as possible on our taxes for 2007. There is a possibility that we can defer losses over a period of time except for operating losses. And the fact we still have our business open - as we just settled all the taxes owed, that we cannot take capital losses until 2008 any way. We will need to speak with our CPA. And in any case, the attorney is going to try to fight for us to keep our return as this has not been done in the past in our state. In 60 months, if we have our tax return completed by then, we should have this all closed. We should know soon though what we need to pay for our cars to keep them and maybe a couple hundred dollars that we still had in savings, we will need to pay. And hopefully I can keep at least some of my bonus that I worked so hard for.

Linkat--

Not a glorious day, but you're moving forward.

May this all be behind you by this time next year.

Thanks - nope not my best day, but I lived through it and it is over. And I realize how much better off I am than many other people I saw this morning. Some one with over a 100k in credit card debt and nothing else to speak of in assets. Some one who is most likely going to lose their home. A single mom with a newborn baby.

We may have had a tough year, but we at least have good potential for the future. That I am thankful for and my husband "fingers crossed" may have a contracting job he can do from home $50/hr starting on Monday. We just need the final word, but basically he was given the o-k by the hiring manager.

Should be days not months.

60 days is much better!

Glad this phase is over, Linkat. Hope you get to keep your bonus.

Just found this Linkat and my heart goes out to you!

Good luck with everything.

I have never seen it either...I am so very sorry - I hope it all goes as smooth and quickly as possible...

Good luck to you, Linkat. Let us know how it goes!

I'm surprised that a 2007 tax refund is even in play, since it wouldn't be income till tax year 2008, even if you itemize deductions. Good news on the retirement fund, in my opinion. I did think that was up for grabs.

Given that bankruptcy was needed, it sounds better than it might have been.

On those other poor souls. . . . I have seen brief reports of some peoples unsecured debts. How on earth did they get people to lend to them while owing that much? I swear, I've never been in a position to handle just the interest on some of those amounts.

Okay, it's bad. It could have been worse. Just keep moving forward.

Linkat--

Sixty days?

You're going to pounce on that paperwork and clear it away.

Then you'll only have the logistics of moving and the mare's nest of family feeling to deal with.

Hold your dominion.

Thanks Roger and everyone else. Yes, the attorney warned us about the tax refund possibility. Seems there are a couple of states that will allow the creditors to get your next year tax return refunds. Mass for the first time opened this up as a possibility. It hasn't been done before, but they are considering it. My attorney will try to fight it as much as possible. Really s*cks about the bonus as this was the best I've gotten yet and I've definately worked for it.

I was thinking the same thing about these people building up credit card debt and how much it is out of control. Seems the credit card companies kept sending this woman blank checks and she would write out checks to herself - not sure where all the money went, but she was one of the few who actually had the creditor show up.

Yes - as long as we can pull together all the tax stuff for 2007 filing.

Linkat--

You can do it.

Hold your dominion.

We received a notice in the mail saying our bankrupcy has been approved. At least that is done.

We received our tax return and looks like the return is about $10k due to the business losses. So the creditors will receive 11/12 of it. We expect to pay about 10k to keep our cars.

We should be free and clear very soon. We even have been receiving credit card pre-approvals as the wolves all come running to give you credit right after the bankrupcy is approved. We will have to open up another to help our credit score right away. I think I will wait a few weeks to see what the damage will be on our score. I have heard different things from different people - one credit card company told us it is unlikely considering our income and history to be that bad - I'm crossing my fingers.

Thanks for the update. I sure hope this is over soon.

Linkat--

All over but the shouting.....

You survived.

Hold your dominion.