Frequently Asked Questions
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Chapter 11 – Reorganization: This Chapter of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code is available to individuals, businesses and other entities, but is primarily intended to allow an ongoing business to restructure its debts. Successful reorganization is dependent on the debtor filing what is called a “reorganization plan” and obtaining the acceptance of creditors and approval by the court for such a plan.
Chapter 13 – Adjustment of Debts for an Individual with Regular Income: This Chapter of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code provides a court-supervised method for a debtor to pay back creditors over a period of time of up to five years. The debtor files a plan for repayment with the bankruptcy petition or soon thereafter. Payments must begin within thirty days after the case has begun. The payments are made to a trustee who will begin paying the creditors after the plan has been approved by the court.
The purpose of the meeting is to enable the appointed trustee to examine you under oath regarding the information that has been filed with the Court. The trustee or a creditor may inquire about your financial status, conduct and financial affairs, and any other matters that are relevant to the administration of your estate. If a creditor wishes to do an in-depth examination, he or she will request a Rule 2004 examination from the Court. Failure to attend this meeting may result in dismissal of your bankruptcy case.
Refer Cr to our office
Document all calls and dates of communications
Create a Log for clients to take with them – include in post filed letter
Name of Creditor
Complete Address (including zip code)
Account Number
Amount Owed
Explanation how debt was incurred and why you did not provide our office this information prior to filing you bankruptcy
There is a charge to add an omitted creditor and for each additional creditor added after the first. You must provide the correct amount to our office with the above creditor information.
It is imperative that you provide all the above immediately or the omitted debts may not be discharged.
If you have any questions, please contact me at DavidKrieger@hainesandkrieger.com.
If you continue to stay current with you Chapter 13 and mortgage payments there will generally be no basis for a creditor to foreclose on your property post-petition. Also, before any foreclosure action can be commenced your mortgage company would have to seek approval from the bankruptcy court to “lift the stay” which is the invisible wall protecting your assets. You would have at least 20 days notice if a credit desires to bring such a motion in the Bankruptcy Court.
Also, unless the Chapter 13 trustee (or a creditor in interest) brings a motion to dismiss your Chapter 13, you will be afforded all the protection under Chapter 13.
Typically, a case will only be dismissed or the stay will only be “vacated” if you are not making your monthly trustee and mortgage payments. So, make your payments and you will not have to worry.
If for some reason a payment is returned, please let our office know immediately. Payments are sometimes returned from your mortgage company because the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is up to.
For this reason, it is crucial that you maintain close track of all payments send in the first 6-12 months of your Chapter 13. I suggest sending all payments via certified mail.
You should however send some money to the trustee to demonstrate your “good faith” and commitment to your Chapter 13. However, if in the interim you trustee files a motion to dismiss your case for non-payment then you must provide our office with as much as you can afford to catch you up with your payments and propose a modified plan.
Generally, a modified plan may be submitted to the Chapter 13 trustee to cure post-petition delinquencies. However, you will have to provide our office with payment to prepare your modified plan and make an appointment to come in to our office and review your new plan with us.
For this reason, it is crucial that you maintain close track of all payments send in the first 6-12 months of your Chapter 13. I suggest sending all payments via certified mail.
However, your mortgage company may file a motion for “relief from the automatic stay”. The “stay” is what protects while you are in bankruptcy; the “Stay” prevents creditors from pursuing or continuing legal action without court permission.
If you mortgage company file a motion for relief from stay you will be noticed and receive a copy of the Motion. You must contact our office immediately and provide us with money to propose to your creditor. These motions can often be resolved through an “adequate protection order” or “APO”. An APO is an agreement between you and your creditor wherein you make certain promises. Usually APO’s will allow you spread your missed or late post-Bankruptcy petition payments out over a period of 4-6 months. However, this is not guaranteed. Generally, your creditor will be entitled to received attorney’s fees and costs for bringing the Motion, but these can usually be included in the APO payments.
However, creditor’s also make mistakes (often), so if you receive a Motion for Relief carefully review it and put together all your proofs of payment to your creditor to ensure you received credit for all payments made. Do this even if you know you are behind with your payments. Creditors often misapply payments.
If you fall behind with your Chapter 13 trustee payments you should make an effort to send some money to the trustee to demonstrate your “good faith” and commitment to your Chapter 13.
However, if in the interim your trustee files a motion to dismiss your case for non-payment then you must provide our office with as much as you can afford to catch you up with your payments and propose a modified plan.
Generally, a modified plan may be submitted to the Chapter 13 trustee to cure post-petition delinquencies. However, you will have to provide our office with $350 to prepare your modified plan and make an appointment to come in to our office and review your new play with us.
Our office will also need the name, address and phone number for your real estate agent, buyer and/or refinance agent. In some cases you must also provide our office with an appraisal, but I will advise you if this is necessary.
Last 4 years of tax returns
Proof of Social Security and a Current Photo ID
Bank statements for each bank account for the last 6 months including the filing date of your Bankruptcy. So if you Bankruptcy case was filed on June 15, 2006, you would have to provide our office with bank statements from December 15, 2006 through June 15, 2006 for each bank account you control
Proof of Income for the 6 months prior to filing. This includes proof of social security payments, support payments, regular pay stubs, personal injury awards or any other source of income during the 6 months prior to filing. In other words you must provide all proof of the income received from January 1 through June 30 for a case filed in July. This is a requirement of the Court. You must also provide our office proof of your post-petition income.
Copies of Automobile Purchase Contracts (if applicable)
Divorce Decrees (if you divorced within the last 6 years).
Evidence of any Real Estate owned (such as deeds or settlement statements).
Any other documents previously requested but not provided.
To the extent that you have provided the above or the above items are inapplicable, you do not need to provide these items again. If you have any further questions, please contact us.
In a Chapter 13 the Clerk will enter a discharge after you have made all Plan payments in accordance with your Chapter 13 plan. This generally takes a few months after your final Chapter 13 payment since the Trustee’s Office performs an accounting and final distribution tasks. Please be patient and understand that our office has no control over issuing your Chapter 13 discharge. However, if your plan is paid in full and you have not received your discharge after 3-4 months, please contact the Clerk’s office at 702-880-5554.
Please keep in mind that you should NOT use bank account money to pay relatives, friends or creditors for preexisting debts or loans. The trustee may seek to recover any monies paid to friends or relatives within 2 years of your Bankruptcy filing. Essentially the trustee accomplishes this by filing lawsuit against these people. You certainly don’t want to subject your friends or relatives to lawsuits, so its best not to make these “preferential” transfers prior to filing your Bankruptcy. However, if you have made such a transfer it MUST be disclosed to the Bankruptcy court. We can still protect friends and relatives through Chapter 13 by repaying your creditors the amount which would have been recovered by the Chapter 7 trustee. If this is an issue you must advise our office if you have not already done so.
If your earnings increase significantly the Trustee can petition the Court to dismiss your case or propose a modified plan. However, our firm’s position is that once the initial Chapter 13 is confirmed all foreseeable issues are set in stone and your estate property, including future income, re-vests to you. Ultimately, you may be requested to make an additional distribution to unsecured creditors, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. However, if something unforeseeable occurs, such as, you win the lottery, settle a large personal injury, claim or receive a large inheritance your estate (and unsecured creditors) will be entitled to an additional distribution from these unforeseeable nonexempt proceeds. Again, if this occurs, let our office know immediately so we can discuss the best course of action for you.