I am located in The State of Maine, as is the bankruptcy case.
A Brief History: A bar location I worked for as a bartender and shift supervisor filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy in Aug, 2008. In October the lucky employees found the doors locked for multiple days and through anyone but the debtor eventually found out that all employees were laid off. In Jan, 2009 the case was converted to Ch. 7 due to the trustee filing a Motion to Convert that was granted by the court. I filed my priority claim for wages owed pre-petition of ~$1,500 early on. We are told so far by the trustee that there are some assets but have not been told anything as to what they are and what their value is as of yet. Next meeting of the Creditors (the first since going Ch. 7) is scheduled for Feb. 6th, 2009. I have no legal counsel.
My current question/issue: I have gotten two separate "Notice of Intent to Abandon Property" from the US trustee. The first is for the deposit put down on their lease which is for $17,500 and the second is for all the property contained within which is itemized and the value is estimated at $94,500. Now from my general knowledge I gather that the only reason a trustee should abandon property is if the value is less than the cost to liquidate and distribute. What I am wondering is if there is anything I don't understand about this as I feel this is a large enough sum of money that it should be getting liquidated and so on. I feel a bit like the priority table by which the creditors are to be paid is being bypassed by this "loophole" for lack of a better understanding. At the same time I feel I should be trusting that the US trustee has the creditors best interests in mind but I worry I might simply have a lack of information that is screwing me over. Conspiracy theories are also coming to mind but I'm trying to remain reasonable. Please help in any way you can to fill in some gaps for me. I have almost two weeks to file an objection for the Intent to Abandon the property which is the one I am more concerned with and which I am strongly considering. That also means that the next Meeting of the Creditors will take place before that deadline. What course of action would you recommend?
A Brief History: A bar location I worked for as a bartender and shift supervisor filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy in Aug, 2008. In October the lucky employees found the doors locked for multiple days and through anyone but the debtor eventually found out that all employees were laid off. In Jan, 2009 the case was converted to Ch. 7 due to the trustee filing a Motion to Convert that was granted by the court. I filed my priority claim for wages owed pre-petition of ~$1,500 early on. We are told so far by the trustee that there are some assets but have not been told anything as to what they are and what their value is as of yet. Next meeting of the Creditors (the first since going Ch. 7) is scheduled for Feb. 6th, 2009. I have no legal counsel.
My current question/issue: I have gotten two separate "Notice of Intent to Abandon Property" from the US trustee. The first is for the deposit put down on their lease which is for $17,500 and the second is for all the property contained within which is itemized and the value is estimated at $94,500. Now from my general knowledge I gather that the only reason a trustee should abandon property is if the value is less than the cost to liquidate and distribute. What I am wondering is if there is anything I don't understand about this as I feel this is a large enough sum of money that it should be getting liquidated and so on. I feel a bit like the priority table by which the creditors are to be paid is being bypassed by this "loophole" for lack of a better understanding. At the same time I feel I should be trusting that the US trustee has the creditors best interests in mind but I worry I might simply have a lack of information that is screwing me over. Conspiracy theories are also coming to mind but I'm trying to remain reasonable. Please help in any way you can to fill in some gaps for me. I have almost two weeks to file an objection for the Intent to Abandon the property which is the one I am more concerned with and which I am strongly considering. That also means that the next Meeting of the Creditors will take place before that deadline. What course of action would you recommend?