The Eastern District of California website has a very interactive and instructive bank of information and forms for both Debtors and Creditors. Please visit www.caeb.uscourts.gov to review what is there.
Q. Where do I send my Certificates of Debtor Education?
A. To the court. If they do not get these timely you may recieve a notice of intent to close case without a discharge. You must file these with the court to obtain a discharge of your debts.
Q. What if I discover more creditors or another address for a creditor?
A. If you have not yet recieved your discharge you should amend the schedules filed with the court to attempt to include that debt in the discharge you are hoping to recieve. Once you have your Discharge you cannot add more Creditors and Creditors cannot object to their debt being discharged.
Q. I have had my Meeting of Creditors with you as the Trustee and you "concluded the examination" and advised it was an Asset case. Will I be recieving updates on the case from you?
A. You won’t really be “hearing” anything more from the Trustee's office as an Asset case progresses. Until the case is completely “done” - as in I have collected all expected money, paid professionals owed in that collection effort and fully disbursed funds collected you won’t get the Final Decree case closing notice. You will get a Trustee's Final Report as the case is preparing to close.
Q. Can people still sue me while the bankrutpcy case is open?
A. The bankruptcy being open does not prevent more lawsuits form being filed against you if those creditors were not notified of the bankruptcy or if the debt was incurred post petition being filed. Your attorney can guide you on that issue and can review whether any recent lawsuit is a violation of the Automatic Stay on a debt included in the bankruptcy and properly noticed.
Q. If I have a case you determine is an Asset case how long will it be open?
A. Once I have all the funds on hand from the liquidation of the Asset(s) I prepare a Trustee’s Final Report (TFR). This goes to the United States Trustee who must review it, and if approved, file it with the court. They have 60 days to do that review.
Once it gets filed with the court all creditors and you will get a copy of the report. Creditors and you have 21 days to object to the distribution in the event I have made an error and included a invalid claim or failed to include one through misclassification.
After those 21 days I upload an order for the Judge to sign. This can be quick or take 10 days. Depends on the Judge. Once the order is signed I can cut checks to the creditors.
When all checks are cashed and I have a zero bank balance I prepare the Trustees Final Distribution Report (TDR). This goes to the United States Trustee for review and approval. When satisfied they file it with the court. Creditors and you will get copies. Everyone has 30 days to object to this report.
Once that 30 days is past you will get your Final Decree and Case Closing notice.
Best guestimate for you to get the case closing is 5 months from when I complete the asset liquidation. Most "easy" or small dollar cases close in about 1 year from the date they were originally filed.
Q. I am a creditor who has a judgement against a debtor. Will my judgement be discharged?
A. If the judgement was listed properly on the schedules it is likely that your judgement will be discharged. If you have a secured lien and if you perfected that lien against secured property the bankruptcy probably will not impact that debt. You should consult with an attorney familiar with BANKRUPTCY rules to determine whether you should object to the debt owed to you being discharged in the bankrutpcy. If you do not take timely action you may be barred - even with a judgement. This is not a time to guess or take advice from individuals unfamiliar with Federal Bankrutpcy laws.
Q. I want to keep my home and plan to use the California 704 exemption for homestead to do so. But I also have tax liens recorded on the home. Which do you consider first when calcualting whether you will liquidate the house for the benefit of the creditors?
A. Tax liens that are recorded are able to "prime", or come before, the Homestead exemption protections. The Trustee will work with the IRS or other tax authority to agree the Trustee should liquidate the home and recieve payment of the trustee's administrative claims. In the event there is enough equity that the entre secured liens (mortgages) and tax liens and any judgements are paid and still there is money to be shared, then the Homestead is considered. legal citation
United States of America v. Hutchinson/Salven (In re Hutchinson), 615 B.R. 596 (E.D. Cal. 5/4/20); Internal Revenue Service v. Baldiga (In re Baldiga), 2020 WL 4015775 (D. Mass. 7/16/20).
Q. How do I know what qualifies as Banruptcy Fraud?
A. Attached is a list of potential bankruptcy related crimes.List Of Crimes.pdf
- Also, a person who knowingly conceals assets, not identifying them on the schedules or misrepresenting them may not be committing a crime that will send them to jail, but they may be endagering the Discharge of their debts.
- A person who intends to file bankruptcy but spends money through running up credit cards shortly before doing so is also guilty of abusing the system and may lose their discharge on those debts or all debts they listed in this bankrutpcy they have filed.
Q. What assets should I be disclosing?
A. The paragraphs below were posted in an article delivered to American Bankruptcy Institute newsletter subscribers:
The assets of a debtor need to be disclosed to the bankruptcy court, but sometimes, it is not clear to a debtor what is considered an asset. An asset is not only the tangible property of the debtor—real estate, vehicles, boats, funds in your bank account, stocks—but also the debtor's intangible assets. Intangible assets are patents, copyrights, client lists, contracts, or the right to receive.
When it comes to assets, it is important to remember that just because the asset is not fully vested or realized, it does not mean the asset does not have value. For example, if a debtor has a lease agreement with their tenant for a six-month lease, then the debtor has an asset of a six-month lease, and that asset would be disclosed to the court. The value is clear; the debtor is owed the rent value from the tenant. The same is true for other assets that will be realized in the future after the bankruptcy is filed. Other assets with future value include unvested stocks, contracts, bonds, or settlement agreements. The debtor has a duty to disclose their right to receive a future asset.
Merely because a debtor does not have access to the asset currently does not mean the asset is worthless. Many courts have considered the meaning of the terms “property” and “interest in property” and have held that they should be construed extremely broadly, encompassing virtually every right a debtor has at the time of filing. In Yonikus, the Court held that “every conceivable interest of the debtor, future, nonpossessory, contingent, speculative, and derivative, is within the reach of the (estate).”
Q. If I am contacted by a creditor I believe was paid off a long time ago should I include them on my Schedule F?
A. Absolutely! See the page on this website about fraud and read about Zombie Debt. This is also a good reason to list all creditors who appear on your credit report on the schedules, even if they show $0 owed or "closed".