January 9th. I filed for bankruptcy Pro Se using Upsolve. I had the 341 meeting and the trustee continued it waiting for more paperwork. Then she demanded I handed over $7500 of my student loan refund.
That took me down a rabbit hole of research. Can she legally do that? Do I not have protections? Etc. I finally found an exemption in our US Code that looked like it could work. However, I live in Missouri and we are an opt-out state. But I went ahead and I filed an exemption and politely told her that I wasn’t going to just hand over the money and if she had any objections, then go through the proper channels instead of just asking for it. It wasn’t easy for me to do. I expected a long, legal battle in court.
I checked the docket on Pacer today (like I do every day) for any updates. To my surprise I received a report of no distribution. She’s not going to fight it afterall. It is such a huge relief! Now I just have to wait for the actual discharge.
I did a LOT of research, so if any other pro se debtors have any questions, feel free to ask. I can not and will not give legal advice though, since for 1) it’s against the rules and 2) I am not a lawyer.
EDIT: Oh, I did have a question! Could I spend the money now (need to fix my car) or should I wait for the discharge..which should be around April 6th..so two weeks?
submitted by /u/Grouchy_Conversation
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