Your Chapter 7 Trustee would be entitled to turn over of that portion of your income tax refund attributable to the calendar year preceding the date you filed your case. I would suggest that you check to see if your Chapter 7 Trustee filed a Report of No Distribution after your 341 Meeting/First Meeting of Creditors. If so, that indicates that your Trustee will not be seeking turnover of any 2011 income tax refund. If a Final Decree has been issued and your case closed, then it’s too late for the Trustee to change his or her mind and go after your tax refund.

Dan Nunley

If you receive and spend your income tax refund before you file bankruptcy, then your refund is no longer an asset that needs to be disclosed in your bankruptcy schedules and is not subject to possible liquidation by a bankruptcy trustee.

Dan Nunley

Bankruptcy rules and procedure vary from state to state and you haven’t told me where you live and where you filed your bankruptcy case. Therefore, I would suggest that you contact a knowledgeable, experienced attorney near you for advice regarding your specific situation. Your state law may allow you to protect or exempt some or all of your income tax refund. However, if your state law doesn’t allow you to exempt your tax refund, then you would generally want to wait to file bankruptcy until after you received and spent your income tax refund. Otherwise, the bankruptcy trustee will be able to take your refund when it arrives. Rescheduling the 341 Meeting/First Meeting of Creditors would not change that fact.

Dan Nunley

One question that comes to my mind is why people don’t increase their exemptions via a W-4 when they are filing for BK later in the year. With a little bit a calculating they should be able to reduce their “refund” to virtually zero or even owe a little.

It does not make sense that they would “overpay” during the year just to have it taken away by the trustee. Given that the W-2 does not break out each pay period it seems it would be very onerous on a trustee to calculate what the refund would have been before the change in exemptions, if even aware of the change.

1. Venue is proper in the jurisdiction where you have lived the greater part of the 180 days immediately preceding the date your bankruptcy petition is filed. So if you’ve only lived in Florida and Oklahoma during the 6 months preceding your bankruptcy filing, once you’ve been in Oklahoma for 91 days, you’re good to file here. See my blog post on this subject: http://www.oklahoma-bankruptcy-attorney.com/bankruptcy-basics/how-long-must-i-live-in-oklahoma-before-i-can-file-bankruptcy-there/

2. Your physical presence is required at the First Meeting of Creditors (341 Meeting) unless excused by the court. Generally the court will reschedule the meeting if there is a conflict. The court may approve a telephonic appearance in cases of serious illness, hospitalization, incapacity, and military deployment. I doubt that the court would approve a telephonic appearance in the situation you have described.

Dan Nunley

Also, I have been told contradictory things about whether or not I actually *must* appear for the hearing. One attorney required it, but another said I could appear by phone. My new job said that leave for new employees is very, very restricted.

I barely did not pass means test in Florida. But since I am moving to Oklahoma and having to accepting a several thousand dollar per year in salary, I should pass easily

My questions are:
a) How long must I be a resident in Oklahoma to file for Chapter 7?
and
b) If I pass the means test for Chapter 7 once resident in Oklahoma, must I appear at the hearing required or may I “attend” by telephone?

Thank you.

John

Since you are represented by an attorney, I don’t think that it would be appropriate for me to give you legal advice. I would suggest that you do whatever is necessary to get your attorney’s attention so that he or she will answer your questions. The speed with which a Chapter 7 trustee makes a decision on administering an income tax refund will depend upon the specifics of the debtor’s case and the trustee’s case load. Most of the trustees with whom I work make a decision fairly quickly upon reviewing a debtor’s tax return, usually within a couple of weeks.

Dan Nunley