Bankruptcy

Hooray For Another Honest Bankruptcy Debtor!

By Jonathan Alper

I enjoy writing about honest bankruptcy debtors because their true stories belie the perception that all people filing bankruptcy conceal or undervalue their assets. (not denying that some bankruptcy debtors lie on their petitions)

A guy calls me from Tampa complaining that his bankruptcy attorney "told him to lie to the Department of Justice." He had told his attorney that he had about $5,000 of cash in his home safe, and the man stated, his prospective bankruptcy attorney told him not to list the cash on his bankruptcy schedules. The man asked me how he could find a completely honest bankruptcy attorney.

I don?t know what this attorney actually said to this man. There  is a lot of cash in peoples? safes and mattresses throughout the U.S. which is not reported to the IRS, the courts, or any other government agency. Maybe the attorney alluded to the obvious and the man thought the attorney was telling him not to list the cash; or maybe the attorney specifically told the man not to write down or report his cash in his bankruptcy- who knows what happened?

The point is that this man was sufficiently honest that he would not use an attorney who he thought dishonest and would seek a referral based on honestly more than experience or competence. (please no blog comments that there are no honest attorneys- its funny, but old). I find that most, but not all, of my clients are good folks who want to pay their bills and who fill out their petitions as honestly as they know how. We frequently hear reports or cases involving dishonest debtors; the extremely honest debtors, like the caller described above, don?t get the notice and thanks they deserve.

Full post as published by Florida Bankruptcy Law on July 26, 2010 (boomark / email).