6 Steps To Take When You Leave A Creditor Off Your Bankruptcy Schedules

Ever forget where you put your keys? This clunky mass of metal and plastic, a critical piece of your day-to-day life, just goes missing.

Frustrating, but it happens. And most of the time, you’ll eventually find them sticking out of the lock of the front door or buried under a pile of mail on the table.

The fact that you can forget something so important makes it easier to understand how you can forget a particular creditor when compiling information for your bankruptcy case.

Fortunately, there is a simple step-by-step process involved in getting the problem fixed.

Your Schedules Can Be Amended While The Case Is Proceeding

So long as the bankruptcy case is still open (in other words, there’s been no discharge issued) you have the absolute right to amend your schedules at any time.

There’s a Florida bankruptcy case that says you give up the right to amend if you wait too long, but the case doesn’t hold weight in either New York or California – the two places where I practice law.

Related:

• FRBP 1009 – Amendment of Voluntary Petitions, List, Schedules, and Statements
• Chapter 7

6 Steps For Amending Schedules To Add A Creditor

If you need to add a creditor to your schedules, here’s what to do:

1. add the creditor to Schedule F;
2. complete a cover sheet for the amendment (note that there is no cover sheet requirement in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York);
3. file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court;
4. pay the filing fee of $30 to amend the schedule;
5. serve the new schedule and cover sheet on the U.S. Trustee, your bankruptcy trustee, and all affected creditors; and
6. file the certificate of service with the bankruptcy court.

Related:

• Amended Schedule(s) And/Or Statement(s) Cover Sheet (Central District of California)
• Affidavit Pursuant To Local Rule 1009-1 (Eastern District of New York)

Why You Need To Act Fast

If you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and do not list a creditor before the time for that creditor to file a proof of claim expires, then then the debt won’t be paid through the Plan. At the end of the case, it won’t be discharged.

If you file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, the rules are slightly more complicated. Depending on the circumstances involved, the debt may or may not be discharged at the end of the case.

Either way, it’s a good idea to amend your bankruptcy schedules as fast as you can. No sense in leaving loose ends hanging around when it comes to your bankruptcy case.