Bankruptcy

Provide Bank Statements to your Bankruptcy Attorney

By David Leibowitz, Illinois and Wisconsin Bankruptcy

When you are filing a bankruptcy case, you have many duties.  More duties than we can cover in one post.  Your bankruptcy lawyer should make it easy for you.

It’s important that your bankruptcy papers are true. One of the questions in your bankruptcy papers asks how much money you have in the bank and in what accounts.  This should not be guess-work. You should know exactly how much you have in the bank on the day you file your case.  And you should also know how much you have in any investment account, securities account, savings account, credit union account, thrift savings plan, IRA or any other financial account of any kind.

Why?

The Bankruptcy Rules require – let me say that again – require that you provide the bankruptcy trustee with copies of your most recent bank statement unless explicitly excused.  Now, I know that not every trustee in every part of the country strictly enforces this.  But I know that they can.  And I know that in many parts of the country, you can’t even start your creditor’s meeting with the trustee without first providing current bank statements.

So why ask for trouble?  Give your lawyer the most up to the minute information. Make sure that the papers you sign contain accurate and up to the minute information at the time of filing.  This way, you are complying with both the Bankruptcy Code and the Bankruptcy Rules.  And you ‘ll be one step closer to your fresh start in bankruptcy.

Full post as published by Bankruptcy Law Network on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).