How Does The Bankruptcy Court Know What I Own?
By Susanne Robicsek, North Carolina Bankruptcy Attorney on Aug 5, 2007 in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, General Bankruptcy Information, North Carolina
The Bankruptcy Court knows what you have because you tell them. You are required to list all your assets on your bankruptcy petition. You must disclose all property that you own. That means anything that is yours.
Once your bankruptcy case is filed, you are under the jurisdiction of the United States Bankruptcy Court, and they can take action against you for lying on your bankruptcy documents. If you lie, you are committing perjury and can go to jail and also have your assets taken from you.
People who try to lie are often caught, but I have found that most people are not prone to lie anyway. It is important to work with your bankruptcy attorney to tell the whole truth and to protect yourself as much as possible during the bankruptcy process-legally.
Bankruptcy Trustees have the authority to investigate your assets in many different ways from physically investigating property to further questioning of debtors under oath. The best way to prepare bankruptcy documents is to do it so that if anyone investigates the information listed, it will all check out.
Now the truth is, many people are just afraid that their property will be taken away from them when they file bankruptcy, but many people don’t have to worry about that. All individuals who file for protection under the bankruptcy laws have exemptions to protect (keep) some of their property.
For many people, the exemption laws protect everything that they own in Chapter 7 and if they don’t, your attorney will discuss how to use the exemption laws to protect the property most important to you. Additionally, Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be used to protect and keep property over your exemption amounts.
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