Providing the complete names and addresses for every debt you owe, as well as the company collecting for this debt (if applicable), is extremely important.  Without this crucial information, the company you owe money to cannot be properly notified by the court and the debt may not be eligible for discharge.  In other words, you may have to pay the bill simply because you did not provide the court with an address to mail a notice to that you filed bankruptcy – which then did not allow that company an opportunity to respond.  In some instances, it can even be considered as “fraud” because some people filing bankruptcy may want to intentionally disallow a creditor the right to file a Proof of Claim or Motion for Relief from Stay, and it is against the law to deny them their creditor’s rights.

What if you don’t know the address?

If you requested a credit report before filling out the Client Intake Forms, the credit report may or may not contain all the addresses you need.  Often, credit reports will only contain the address of the collection agency, and only reference the original creditor’s name without an address. 

In this case, you will have to do a little work on your own to obtain the missing address.  The best place to start in trying to find an address of a creditor is to call the toll-free national information line at 1-800-555-1212 and see if a toll-free number is listed under the company’s name.  If not, you may have to look in your phone directory or do an online search of the yellow pages.  Once you obtain the telephone number of the creditor, simply call them and ask for their mailing address.

Listing the address of the original company you owe money to as well as the collection agency is also just as important.  By doing this, all parties concerned with the debt are notified by the court and it will greatly aid in ceasing all collection phone calls you may be currently receiving.

Other Areas to Pay Attention to on Creditor Sheets:

• Make sure all company names are spelled out. (For example, instead of writing “HSB” for a company name, write out the words “Home Secure Bank” or whatever the case may be.)
• Make sure the street address is readable and any abbreviations are spelled out.
• Make sure the city, state, and ZIP are included for all addresses.   If the zip code is not known, it can be obtained online:  http://www.usps.com/.
• Make sure all the information for each creditor is completely filled in.  Every piece of this information is important in preparing a detailed bankruptcy petition for you.  If you donot know the exact date you created a debt, or charged on the account, a “year” is sufficient.

Be sure to list all income from every source, including child support, unemployment, social security, pension, etc.

Statement of Financial Affairs

Make sure that every box in the Statement of Financial Affairs is filled in with an answer or with "N/A" if the question does not apply to you.  These pages serve as a written statement concerning your financial condition.

In addition, make sure you fill in all the information needed to answer each question on the lines provided.  For instance, in answer to question number 15, some people forget to include the city, state and zip code of a prior address they lived at.  Or, in answer to question number 5, if a car has been repossessed, don’t just call it a “car” but provide the make, model and year.  It is important for you to be as detailed as possible when answering each question.  Also feel free to turn the page over and write more information on back.  The detail you provide at this stage will greatly speed the turnaround time for completing your petition.

Please remember to ALWAYS provide the make, model and year of your motor vehicle on line 25 of the Personal Property sheets.  I must obtain market values of all motor vehicles from the N.A.D.A Official Used Car Guide for the bankruptcy court and I need all the information on the vehicle, including mileage to obtain the correct market value.  Example: 1997 Ford should be 1997 Ford Mustang, or 1997 Ford F-150 Super Cab, or whatever the case may be.  Simply writing the word “car” is not enough.  I have included an additional form below for you to report motor vehicle information.

Court Documents

If you have been involved in a court proceeding of any type within the past 12 months, including a foreclosure, wage garnishment, traffic tickets, other fines, lawsuits, judgments for debt collection, etc. – I need to know the following information, which can be obtained directly from the court pleading your received:

• Court Heading – (example: John Doe, Plaintiff vs. Jane Doe, Defendant)
• Case Number
• Name and address of court where document was filed
• Date document was filed with the court
• Names and complete addresses of any attorneys or parties involved with the case (including the Plaintiff)
• Current status – Has a hearing already taken place? If so, what was the result? If the hearing has not taken place and a decision has not been reached yet, provide the date of the court hearing and let us know the case is still “pending”.

You may find it easier to simply make a copy of the court documents and include them with your Client Workbook.  (I will return all court documents you give me.)

Summary

Thank you for taking the time to review the Client Workbook before returning it to me.  You will find that your efforts will save you time and avoid delay in the processing of your bankruptcy petition.

Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions concerning the Client Forms.

Client Workbook
Your Mobile Home (if applicable)
Your Motor Vehicles 

Michael P. O’Donnell
Attorney at Law
3450 Hulen Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107-6142
817-732-7590
817-732-8903 Facsimile