341 Meeting and Discharge

[nomadic_traveler]

Just so I understand in general if all the paperwork is in order does the trustee actually make a decision about whether to discharge technically on the spot at the hearing?  And then it is just the 60 day waiting period to see if any of the creditors decide to challenge being included?

[Singsonbing]

My trustee never said anything about granting it. It asked questions and sent me on my way. I assumed I was good to go because otherwise he would have asked something more of me.

I saw on pacer he filed something asking the court to release him a week or two later.

Then 60 days after my meeting I saw the order on pacer.

[jjb0894]

The trustee’s job more or less is to determine if your paperwork is complete and honest, and to see if there’s assets that can be liquidated.
Obviously he has a much more involved role in a Chapter 13 though.
The trustee can file motions if he believes that the case should be dismissed, but the trustee is not a judge. Only a Bankruptcy Judge has the power to grant a discharge or not grant a discharge. That’s not up to the trustee.
However, the judge more often than not will side with the trustee.
The trustee does still have a lot of power, but a discharge is a court order and only a judge can approve a court order.

[jjb0894]

And also, from what I’ve been told, if anyone files objections, it will more than likely be BEFORE the 341 meeting.
That’s not to say that objections aren’t filed afterwards, but most of the cases I’ve seen with objections, happen before the creditors meeting ever takes place.
Also, I was worried about objections before my case because I was under the false impression that a creditor could just file an objection simply because they think they should be paid.
Creditors can only file objections if they believe their debt should not be discharable or if there’s fraud and they have the burden of proof.
Usually not worth their time unless it’s a stupid amount of money on the line.
Even my largest creditor (USAA) who I’m burning for $18,000 hasn’t done anything. Even though I owe them a lot of money, their objection would just be a colossal waste of time because the debt is 100% unsecured and not fraudulent.

[nomadic_traveler]

I owe Chase roughly $60k/unsecured.  All the debts are not fraudulent as well. 

[jjb0894]

It’s really hard to say. It depends on the bank really.
In the end of the day, the amount of money doesn’t really matter too much if the bank doesn’t have a valid non-discharablity claim.