Navigating the Bankruptcy Petition
A San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorney comments on navigating the bankruptcy petition...
As a San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorney, I realize the the Bankruptcy Petition can be very difficult to navigate. There are times when the debtor may overlook a creditor when drafting the Petition. Most of the time, the debtor does not have to worry if they unintentionally just forgot or overlooked to include a specific creditor in their bankruptcy.
In the 9th Circuit (which includes California, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and Nevada, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam) and this is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and there are no assets were liquidated and sold by the Trustee, and you have already received your discharge, then there is no consequence for unintentionally failing to list a creditor. This means that if you get your discharge, you are discharged from ALL dischargeable debts regardless of whether they were listed or received notice of the bankruptcy. The two main cases on this are In re Neilsen, 383 F.2d 922 (9th Cir. 2004) and In re Beezley, 994 F.2d 1433 (9th Cir. 1993). If the creditor in question has grounds to object to the discharge of the debt, like if the debt was incurred through fraudulent means, then they can still move to reopen the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case and litigate their non-dischargeability claim if they received no notice of the original bankruptcy.
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or Chapter 11 bankruptcy case where assets are being distributed by the Trustee, the failure to list a creditor is more serious and can result in that debt not being discharged.
If you have questions regarding bankruptcy in San Francisco or bankruptcy in the greater Bay Area please contact our San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys at (415) 946-8882 for a free consultation or visit www.bkanswers.com and we can connect you with one of our experienced San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys. After you have spoken with one of our Bay Area bankruptcy attorneys, we can schedule you for a free face to face appointment in an office location nearest you. Our team of Bankruptcy Lawyers, Bankruptcy Customer Care Specialists and Bankuptcy staff supporting San Francisco and Bay Area consumers in debt can assist you with all aspects of your bankruptcy or bankruptcy litigation case. If you have questions about filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or would like to learn more about bankruptcy litigation, legal debt settlement, mortgage modification, lien stripping, cram down, stopping a foreclosure, wage garnishment, asset protection, discharging a debt, etc. we can help! We have bankruptcy attorneys located throughout California and Oregon who can assist you with all of your debt resolution questions. Please feel free to complete our free online bankruptcy evaluation and we can quickly determine if you are a qualified candidate for bankruptcy. We look forward to hearing from you, San Francisco Bay Area!
