Once you start the bankruptcy process, the first thing that you will be asked to do is list all your property, income and debts. This information will be the basis of your entire bankruptcy proceedings – granting or denial of such – which is why you are swearing that everything you have put in the bankruptcy form list is accurate and true.
Filing for bankruptcy is a serious legal process that deserves utmost attention and effort. Everyone is required to strictly follow to bankruptcy laws. There are people who honestly commit a mistake of not declaring all income or properties due to some confusion or being careless in their form preparation. However, there are those who intentionally hide their assets or properties in the hopes of sparing those properties from being taken away from them by the bankruptcy court .
Falsely declaring assets, income or properties will not make things any better. Filing bankruptcy is used to help an individual (or company) seeking for protection from his/her creditors until he/she is able to come up with a good repayment plan in case of chapter 13 bankruptcy . It may also that filing bankruptcy under chapter 7 is pursued so that most debts are wiped out. A legal process such as this requires honesty and cooperation by both the debtor and the creditors. A fair and just evaluation of the whole case is to be brought up in court so that everyone is paid accordingly under the law.
You really have to list down all your property, income, assets, debts, liabilities, creditors and lenders. Everything should be detail even up to the last minute information as much as possible. Also, you should indicate if you are expecting any money or property like in the form of inheritance. You may think that your bankruptcy case is already running and the inheritance will not come after a few months so it is “fine” not to declare it. It is only proper to declare the inheritance even if you just recently knew about it. The bankruptcy court will decide how it will be used for your bankruptcy case. The same goes to any stocks, funds or life insurance that you have.
If you attempt to conceal your assets or properties, use false social security number to hide your identity and fail to list down all your creditors and the bankruptcy court or trustee finds out about it, chances are that your case will be dismissed and you may also be charged with perjury or fraud.
