How can I file a Motion to Abandon?

Bankruptcy court doesn?t use standard pleading forms for this type of matter. If you can?t afford an attorney to represent you, it probably isn?t worth doing.

Your case was filed very recently. You may or may not have even had your Meeting of Creditors yet. Once you have that meeting with your trustee, the law required a 60-day waiting period during which all of your creditors have an opportunity to object to the discharge of your debt. The court will not review your file for discharge until after that time passes. During that time you are required to complete a financial management session and file the certificate with the court showing that you have satisfied that requirement. Then, within the regular course of their business, the court will issue your discharge order assuming you are eligible to receive a discharge. Your case will remain open with the court for some time beyond that. Filing a Motion to Abandon is not necessary, unless you have assets you are concerned about or unless you are trying to sell your home. Filing such a motion will not speed up the bankruptcy process in any way, and will not force the trustee to close the case.

Reminds me of the young intern who asked the doctor. How long will it take you to teach me how to remove an appendix? The doctor replied, "About four hours. But it will take me four years to teach you what to do if something goes wrong!" I see no need for you to worry about closing out your file. You would be better off writing to the Chapter 7 Trustee and asking what the hold up is, with a copy of your letter to the U.S. Trustee for the state you are in.

If you filed a Chapter 7 case on 8/15/14, your case is not ripe for a discharge yet. First, the Trustee will need to hold your 341 meeting of Creditors. Once the meeting of Creditors is held and concluded, your case will be on hold for 60 days from the date the 341 meeting was concluded. The 60 days is to give creditors a chance to object to a discharge of their debt.

I practice in San Diego so what I'm speaking about here applies to Southern District of California Bankruptcy Court. Aside from the federal Bankruptcy rules, each district court has their own "Local Rules" typically found online at the court's website. There is no requirement to file such a document in my court. Your case cannot close earlier than 90 days from the date of filing. In our jurisdiction our Trustees tend to file "Report of No Distribution" shortly after the 341 hearing, often they do this right after the hearing but sometimes later depending on what other things they have going on or whether they completed a review of the case. Trustees issue the letter of no distribution without any instructions or assistance from the debtor. 60 days must pass after the 341 hearing before a Discharge can be issued. You must however complete a Trustee approved Financial Management course. See approved vendors at www.justice.gov/ust. You must file with the court the Official Form 23 and a certificate of course completion no later than 45 after the date on which your meeting of creditors was first scheduled. If you fail to do this, the court will close your case without discharge. Hope this helps.

Your creditors have 90 days after the 341 meeting to file challenges to your discharge. Since you filed on 8/15/2014, you 341 meeting was probably only a few days ago. So it can't be closed until the middle of January 2015. You don't need to file a motion to abandon property. When you get your discharge you will no longer owe the lender of the property but you will still own the property. Owning a vacant property has it's own set of risks including liability if neighborhood children are injured in it property, liability for lawn mowing and taxes. I strongly recommend that you arrange a short sale to get rid of it.

After the First Meeting of Creditors, the Chapter 7 Trustee will either file a notice of no assets or a notice of intent to claim assets.

You don't need to file a motion to abandon. The trustee will determine the value of the property and if there is no equity, the trustee will abandon the asset by filing a no asset report and subsequently closing the case. However, that doesn't happen over night. It will at a minimum, the trustee won't file the report of no distribution until after the Section 341 meeting of creditors and the property won't be deemed abandoned until the case is closed which will be a minimum of 60 days after the 341 meeting. I presume you filed to get a discharge so you don't want the case closed before that is entered, right?

A chapter 7 case will not close before 90 days from your filing, so around November 15th. You could ask the chapter 7 standing trustee to abandon the property by himself/herself before that time. In addition, if you want your mortgage holder to expedite taking back the property, you could ask them to file a motion for relief from the bankruptcy stay. If you can give them a deed in lieu of foreclosure, it will be easier for them and better than a foreclosure for your credit score.

You don't need to file a motion to abandon. Just wait for your discharge.