A New York bankruptcy case will generate a significant amount of paperwork. So much paperwork, in fact, that debtors are not going to be interested in holding on to it in the future. This is understandable. Many people don’t store their records at all, much less securely or in an organized way. Others are quite meticulous. Personalities differ. After a bankruptcy case, though, what records should debtors hold on to and what advantage is there to doing so?
The quick answer is that debtors should at least keep their bankruptcy petitions and their discharge orders.
Most chapter 7 or chapter 13 New York bankruptcy petitions run between forty and eight pages, depending on the number of debts or assets in the case. (The length alone is a good hint as to why it’s important to hire an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer to handle your case.) Debtors should also hold on to the schedules and amendments to their petitions. The main reason to keep the petition is to get a sense of what’s on file with the bankruptcy court. That is, you’re using it as a map for additional document searches.
(Click to read about how to find information about your bankruptcy case without talking to a lawyer.)
The other document debtors should for sure hold on to is their discharge orders—if their cases ended with discharges. The discharge order serves a variety of purposes; chiefly, proving to debt collectors and other creditors that they cannot recover the debts. A good way to stop collection efforts is to scan or photocopy the discharge order and mail the copy to the creditor. That should end their efforts unless they want punishment.
There are other reasons to hold on to these documents. One is in case debtors need to file bankruptcy again. The other is if they need to challenge errors in their credit reports, for instance, if one of the credit-reporting agencies keeps a bankruptcy filing on it longer than ten years after the case closed. Finally, sometimes lenders will not be very savvy about the bankruptcy process and will request more information about a borrower’s bankruptcy than is stated in the credit report, even though credit reports are fairly comprehensive.
If you don’t already have your bankruptcy papers, you should contact your lawyer to obtain them. If you represented yourself, then you may need to go through the bankruptcy court.
If you are experiencing significant financial hardship, then talking to an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer is the best choice for strategizing your options.
For answers to more questions about bankruptcy, the automatic stay, effective strategies for dealing with foreclosure, and protecting your assets in bankruptcy please feel free to contact experienced bankruptcy attorney Brooklyn NY Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.