Chapter 13
Preparation of Legal Documents
Your bankruptcy paperwork is prepared from the information which you provide in our questionnaire. Our questionnaire must be fully and accurately completed. The questionnaire itself is somewhat intimidating by its length, but quite a few of the questions may require an answer of “no, none, or not applicable (n/a)”. It is important to remember that EACH of the blanks in the questionnaire must have an answer because each blank in the questionnaire relates to a required disclosure in the legal documents we will prepare on your behalf. Even if one blank in the questionnaire remains unanswered, we may not be able to complete your legal paperwork, which in turn, will lead to unnecessary delay in filing of your case.
We are often asked if a person can include in the bankruptcy paperwork only those creditors that the person wants included, leaving all other creditors out of the paperwork. All creditors must be listed, even the creditors you intend to pay. However, you do not have to list credit cards with zero balances because you do not owe them anything and they are not your creditors. If you want to keep a major credit card active after filing bankruptcy, you may pay it off prior to filing your case and not list it in the questionnaire so long as the pay off amount within 90 days of the filing of your bankruptcy case is $600 or less. Even if you pay off a credit card before filing bankruptcy, it is possible that the card issuer may find out about your bankruptcy and cancel your card.
Under the law:
- All information that you provide for your bankruptcy paperwork must be complete, accurate, and truthful.
- You must completely and accurately disclose in your bankruptcy paperwork all of your assets and all of your liabilities. You must make reasonable inquiry before you place a value on each of your assets (e-bay, local newspapers, local thrift shops, and local pawn shops are a good source for such information).
- If an employee, you must refer to your pay records, and if self-employed, you must refer to your financial records, in figuring out your current monthly income.
- The information that you provide during your case may be audited, and that failure to provide information may result in dismissal of your case or other sanction, including a criminal sanction.
Your bankruptcy paperwork is reviewed by your legal assistant, then, by an attorney. If we do not notice any problems, we will contact you so you may come to our office to review and sign the paperwork. If any problems are noted, we will contact you and address them on a case by case basis.
The legal documents we will file on your behalf are:
- A statistical coversheet.
- The Bankruptcy Petition (invokes the automatic stay which stops your creditors from further contact or collection action).
- A summary of the different chapters available under the Bankruptcy Code.
- A statement of the attorney’s fees you agreed to pay to our law firm.
- A list of your real estate.
- A list of your personal property.
- A list of your exempt property.
- Details about your monthly income.
- Details about your monthly expenses.
- Statement of Financial Affairs (this gives your creditors information about different apscets of your financial life covering a period of two years).
- A statement of your intentions with respect to those assets that you owe money on (For example, whether you intend to keep or surrender your home or your vehicles).
- A summary of your assets and liabilities.
- A verification of the names and addresses of your creditors.
- A verification of you Social Security Number.
- Credit Counseling Certificate.
- Pay stubs covering the 60 days before the date of the filing of the bankruptcy.
- The Means Test.
- Chapter 13 plan.
These documents are developed from the information you provide in the questionnaire. Preparation of your Chapter 13 plan is more of an art than an exact science. Your Chapter 13 plan will be tailored to your needs and circumstances. Therefore, cases which on first glance may ppear to be similar may end up with vastly different Chapter 13 plans. If you have questions about your Chapter 13 plan, please ask and we will be very happy to explain.