During the course of a bankruptcy case, explains Oakland bankruptcy attorney James Pixton, the debtors are required to disclose certain financial information. The idea is that they need to show all of their financial affairs in exchange for the federal bankruptcy court’s protection and for that all-important discharge order that comes at the end of the case.
Here is a pretty basic list of the documents you’ll have to come up with:
Your last-filed tax return. This means that if you haven’t filed since 1965, that’s the tax return you’re going to have to come up with. If you haven’t filed a tax return in a while, you will definitely want to talk with an experienced Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney about how that will affect your bankruptcy case. In Oakland bankruptcy court, you may find that the trustees are most interested in your returns for the past few years. They’re looking for assets and a non-yet-filed tax return might mean a tax refund for the trustees to pursue.
Your paystubs for the two-month period just prior to the filing of your bankruptcy case. You are supposed to provide these to the trustee in your case. The trustees are supposed to look them over although it’s not too clear to me just what they’re supposed to be looking for. My experience is that trustees do require them, but pay very little attention to them.
Monthly statements for all bank and financials account showing the balances of the accounts as of the date you filed your bankruptcy case. These documents are required for a much clearer purpose. In their quest for assets that they can get a hold and use to pay creditors, the trustees will want to see how much money you had when you filed. Sometimes, a careless debtor will file a case with a significant amount of money in the bank accounts that he is unable to protect completely. Again, this is where an experienced Oakland bankruptcy attorney like James Pixton is vital. You need to make sure that you can protect as much of your money as possible. An experienced bankruptcy attorney means fewer surprises.
Oakland bankruptcy attorney James Pixton’s phone number is (510) 451-6200 x101. He has a by-appointment-only office at 1300 Clay Street, Suite 600, Oakland, CA 94612. His main office is just a few minutes away in beautiful downtown Alameda, California (the East Bay’s best kept secret). Give him a call and come in for a visit.