Form 21
I had to attend a hearing this afternoon regarding a motion to reconsider an order denying a motion to reopen a Chapter 7. Luckily the motion was granted, and we got the motion to reopen granted, but it all could have been avoided from the very beginning.
When a Debtor meet with his attorney’s office, he provides them with all the information needed to prepare the paperwork to file the case. Once the paperwork is prepared, he meet with the attorney’s office again to review the paperwork and make sure it is correct. It is very important to closely inspect what you are signing. Debtors need to remember that the information was imputed by a person, and mistakes are can be made.
Our office had a Debtor that signed his paperwork, but didn’t closely look to make sure his social security number was correct on the Form 21. The Form 21 is what must get filed with the court to let them know the social security number of the Debtor. The trustee will then check the social security card against the social security number filed with the court. By some weird miracle, the trustee failed to notice that the numbers didn’t match. The Debtor then got a discharge and the case was closed. Once the case was closed, our office received a phone call from the Debtor upset because the wrong social security number was listed on the discharge papers.
Our office explained it was easy to fix, but we would have to file a motion with the court to reopen the case to file an amended Form 21. The cost to reopen a case is usually around $650. The Debtor had to pay us the money to reopen his case. It could have all been avoided had he carefully reviewed his paperwork when he signed it saying it was correct.
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