Filing Your Personal Bankruptcy

When You File Your Personal Bankruptcy…

The biggest mistake here is the failure to keep your bankruptcy attorney notified as to your current address. The court may have to send you legal documents and will need to get them to you on a timely basis. Many people file for bankruptcy and then promptly move to a new place where the bankruptcy court can’t find them.

Be careful with this, it can hurt you. Keep your attorney notified and follow up with him to be sure he keeps the bankruptcy court properly notified. Failure to promptly sign and return a legal document from the court could cost you plenty.

One legal trick is to have all your legal correspondence sent through your attorney. Of course there will be a small charge, but having your mail handled in this way just might help you hide behind the “lawyer-client privilege” loophole should any problems arise later.

Do not enter into any new credit contracts without clearing them in advance with your attorney. The first order of business when you file is to be sure that any creditors that you suspect may be contemplating seizing any of your assets be immediately officially notified of your filing to halt their activities.

Your bankruptcy attorney should notify your creditors by phone and then follow up by mailing each creditor an official notification which includes your case number. To be sure your car isn’t grabbed by an over-anxious finance company, place several copies of a notification (ask your lawyer for copies) in prominent places in and on the car. Creditors and repossession agents know that they cannot seize a car that bears such a notice and will usually walk away.

If your car is repossessed by a firm that has been legally notified of your filing, inform your attorney at once. He may be able to get it returned. Ask your bankruptcy lawyer if it’s advisable to hide the car until things “cool down”. Laws vary so don’t act without legal advice on this one. If it’s alright, rent one of those storage locker places for a month and store the car there. Or stash it in a friend’s garage but make sure it’s a buddy your creditors don’t know about.

You should know that it’s a common practice for your trustee to abandon assets of low value as unrecoverable. Any item that isn’t worth selling may be left in your hands. Having many assets of low value is preferable to having a few assets of greater value. Trustees tend to zero in on higher value non-exempt items and may ignore some of the other less valuable items.

Most trustees will accept two excuses for a debtor not making the required appearance at the creditors’ meeting. Illness and incarceration are both common excuses. In these cases, questions can be answered over the phone or via a printed questionnaire. (Some sensitive individuals have stress-related health problems as a result of their desperate financial situation.)

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