Just as you must bare your financial soul when you apply for a mortgage, you will have to shed light on the dark corners of your ledger when you declare bankruptcy.
Whether you decide to file under
Chapter 7 or
Chapter 13 of the bankruptcy code, a lot of paperwork will have to be filed with your petition.
The federal bankruptcy judge, your attorney, your creditors
and the case trustee assigned to handle your filing need all this information from you in order to verify that you indeed cannot pay your debts.
Your financial data has to be submitted on special forms. They are not available from the federal bankruptcy court, but can be bought at a legal stationary supply story or
downloaded from the Internet.
But before you begin, you will have to gather together your information. Here is what will be needed:
- A list of all the people you owe money to, with what you owe and what it is for.
- Information about the source and amount of your income and the frequency with which you are paid.
- A list of all the property you own.
- A detailed list of your monthly living expenses, including food, clothing, housing, utilities, taxes, transportation and medicine.
Married people have to submit comparable information on their spouse’s finances, even if the spouse is not involved in the bankruptcy filing.
Source: The web site of the federal court system, uscourts.gov