CAR/TRUCK - Your Car or Truck in the Bankruptcy.
Chapter 7
After you file a chapter 7, you may do with your car or truck whatever you choose if the vehicle has been completely exempted or, if not completely exempted, when the trustee informs you he has no interest in the vehicle. Your attorney will give you a good idea of the status of the vehicle after he has analyzed the financial and other circumstances applying to the vehicle. If you wreck the vehicle while you are in the Chapter 7, it will be up to you, your insurance company and the other person involved, if any, to deal with the situation. Unless the trustee has expressed an interest in the vehicle, it will not be necessary to contact your attorney. If however you have reaffirmed the obligation to pay the financing institution and the value of the vehicle is less than what is owed on it, the financing institution will expect you to pay the difference. NOTE: Reaffirmation Agreements below, apply to this situation.
FILING THE BANKRUPTCY DOCUMENTS.
After you sign your petition and schedules your attorney will file them with the clerk of the Bankruptcy Court. Generally we file them electronically over the internet; however, on some occasions we will file them through the mail or by hand delivery to the clerk's office. If you are filing within one to three days prior to a foreclosure you are attempting to stop, you or a courier may be required to hand deliver the petition, plan and schedules to the court. It is, therefore, incumbent on you to be in a position to file your bankruptcy documents timely.
SAVE YOUR DOCUMENTS
In the event you need to provide proof of filing or proof of your discharge to a new creditor considering whether or not to issue credit after your discharge, and you no longer have copies of your petition or discharge notice, you will need to obtain copies from either the court or our office. Both my office and the court will charge a fee for the copies. The reason our office charges a fee is that after the discharge we send the file to storage and it requires time of our staff to retrieve the documents. Also, if you have given us copies or originals of documents you wish to have returned to you, please come to our office and retrieve the documents. We request you call ahead in order that we may have the documents ready when you arrive. If you do not request the documents be returned to you, we will assume you no longer want the documents and we will destroy them when we close your file. We generally close files within days of receiving notices of the discharge and closing of the estate.
The clerk of court (not your attorney) will send out notices of the bankruptcy to all listed creditors, you and your attorney. The mailing generally occurs in a week to ten days following the filing. The notice will contain vital information; therefore, it is important you watch the mail for your copy of the notice. Additionally, you must supply this office with a mailing address that you generally receive your mail. If you have not received a copy of the notice of filing bankruptcy within three weeks of signing your petition and schedules, please call the office and notify us. You should also receive a letter from our office reminding you of the meeting of creditors. The notice you receive from the court will contain the following information concerning the meeting of creditors; 1) the date of the 341 meeting; 2) the location of the meeting; 3) the time of the meeting; 4) the room number of the meeting.
