Craig Andersen, a Minnesota bankruptcy attorney, explains the point of this blog post quite clearly with his title and opening sentence: “Just list the things you want to keep in bankruptcy.”
What does that mean? It means if you intend on keeping property, assets, money, and wages, you need to properly list them. The point is universal, and applies in Texas bankruptcy law. No matter which form of personal bankruptcy you file – Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 – you are required to list all your debts and assets. If you lie about this, you can be charged with perjury in court and bankruptcy fraud.
If you have an asset you want to keep, and hide it from Texas bankruptcy court, you can be charged with bankruptcy fraud, a very serious crime.
There are some advantages to listing all debts. Just listing an income or debt does not mean your bankruptcy will address it. For example, you might have a credit card debt you do not intend to pay on in your Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Be sure to still list it. Nothing is wrong with paying on it outside the bankruptcy, if not waiting until after the bankruptcy. There is no law that says you can’t pay on debts after bankruptcy, just as long as you list it.
What if you have a personal debt? Say you owe your former spouse $10,000. You should list this debt in your bankruptcy filing too. You have some options for repayment: you can pay your spouse voluntarily, outside the bankruptcy, or you can make a formal agreement to make regular payments. You might have a family doctor you owe money to and want to continue seeing. This debt can be paid off too by either voluntarily paying or making an agreement.
There are some big advantages to listing all your debts. Bankruptcy attorney Andersen points out the more you list, the more you keep. If you want to keep an asset like your car, for example, listing it almost always means you can keep the car. That’s something not talked about enough. Simply filing bankruptcy does not mean you’ll be broke, lose your home, have your car taken, and wages garnished. If you follow the laws, list all debts, you stand to have most assets be exempt under federal bankruptcy law.
Who can help with all this? You can help yourself by looking into all your records, listing all your assets, and making a completely honest bankruptcy filing. But in order to successfully discharge the most debt and protect the most assets, you need an experienced Texas bankruptcy lawyer. He or she can ensure you follow all laws, your property and assets are protected, and you can reap the most benefits of filing bankruptcy.
