Discharge of Your Creditors and Amending Your Bankruptcy
When you plan to file for bankruptcy to obtain a discharge of your creditors, one of your responsibilities is to list all of your income, debt, and property on the appropriate bankruptcy forms or schedules. If you fail to properly disclose your financial position as a part of your bankruptcy filing, the bankruptcy court may throw out your bankruptcy case altogether if it believes you were intentionally trying to mislead the court as to your financial position by hiding assets or by trying to give one of your creditors preferential treatment.
But what happens if you accidentally leave one of your creditors off of your bankruptcy petition? The good news is that you can generally amend your bankruptcy petition to add the creditor you missed. How long do you have to make amendments? You can generally amend your bankruptcy petition, as long as the bankruptcy is still pending, by simply submitting an updated version of the form where the creditor was omitted. The specific form may vary depending on the bankruptcy court where you are filing bankruptcy.
In fact, if you are filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for the discharge of your debt, then depending on the jurisdiction where you are filing the bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court may still simply discharge an unlisted debt that would have otherwise been discharged in the bankruptcy. In such cases, the bankruptcy court simply realizes the discharge of an unlisted creditor is the result that would have occurred if you had listed the creditor in the first place. Therefore, the bankruptcy court simply moves forward as though you had listed the creditor.
However, some bankruptcy courts may still force you to formally amend your bankruptcy petition to add the creditor you missed. And in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases where you have assets that are being distributed to creditors as a part of the bankruptcy, failing to list a creditor may create a complicated situation if your assets have been distributed improperly. Therefore, it is best in all cases for you to list all of your creditors thoroughly from the start to avoid having to amend your bankruptcy filing.
Identifying all of your creditors to list them on the bankruptcy schedules can appear to be a complicated matter. You cannot simply list only the creditors that are calling you or sending you letters, as some creditors may still have a legal claim against you for a debt even if they are not currently contacting you.
However, it is generally sufficient and reasonable for you to list all of your creditors that appear on your credit report and consider that a complete list of your creditors, as creditors will usually report a delinquent liability to one or more of the three credit bureaus (i.e., Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). You can see through your credit reports as well which creditors have written off or discharged the liability you owe them, which means you are no longer legally obligated to pay them the money you owed or to list them in your bankruptcy petition. When a creditor chooses to write off a debt will vary depending on whether the creditor believes it can collect the money you owe them and the statute of limitations for collecting the debt, which varies by state.
You should review the reports from all three credit bureaus, as each bureau may have different information. You are allowed to get one credit report from each of the credit bureaus for free once every 12 months.
Filing for bankruptcy and completing a list of all your creditors as a part of that filing can be a complicated matter. Therefore, it is generally a good idea to consult a trained bankruptcy attorney. A bankruptcy attorney can help be sure you complete the necessary bankruptcy filings correctly the first time, giving you peace of mind that your case is being handled correctly and taking the stress off of your shoulders. Likewise, a bankruptcy attorney can advise you on how to amend your bankruptcy petition.
Related articles
- Discharge of Debt in Bankruptcy? (betterbankruptcy.com)
- Bankruptcy and the Stress Experienced After Filing (betterbankruptcy.com)
- Collections, Charged Off Debt, and Bankruptcy (betterbankruptcy.com)
- Is a Creditor Continuing to Contact You After Bankruptcy? (betterbankruptcy.com)
by Beth L.
Beth L. has been a contributing writer to websites since 2008. She has a background in Business Management and Management Information Systems and graduated from the University of Texas in 1996. Now she specializes in content development for legal entities for issues regarding bankruptcy, personal injury and Social Security Disability law.
