Do I Need to Know All of My Creditors when I meet with an attorney about the bankruptcy for the first time?

Do I Need to Know All of My Creditors when I meet with an attorney about the bankruptcy for the first time?No. While policies may vary firm to firm, most offices will have you complete some sort of intake sheet upon arrival. This intake sheet will give the attorney some insight into your situation and potential issues in your case. Income information and possible equity issues should be looked at closely upon intake to determine potential issues, creditors amounts and information is not needed for the initial.                                   So what questions is the intake going to ask me?Again, this may vary office by office so keep in mind that this is only what our office asks and another office may ask different information. We ask the following:

• First Name, Middle Initial if applicable, and Last Name
• Address including City, State, Zip Code
• Email address if applicable
• Contact phone numbers including home, cell, work, etc.
• Marital Status: Single, Married, Divorced, Widowed, Separated
• Household Size and ages of any dependents
• Information on any prior bankruptcies including when they were filed and what chapters were filed
• The reason(s) you are considering filing bankruptcy and rough estimates of the amounts owed. Common reasons include:
  • Credit Cards
  • Medical bills
  • Late on house payments with possible foreclosure scheduled
  • Late on car payments with possible repossession
  • Deficiency on repossessed vehicles or foreclosed homes
  • Lawsuits pending
  • Garnishments and/or bank levies
• Whether debt is primarily consumer debt or debt from running a business
• Bank taxes owed if applicable
• Recently received or expected tax refunds
• Back child support or any support or maintenance owed if applicable
• Real Estate Information
  • If purchasing or own real estate outright:
    • Amount owed
    • Value of house
• Insider Payments: Whether you have made payments to family members or friends in the past year
• Vehicle information: For each vehicle that has your name on the title(even if you are not the one that drives or pays for the car), we need the year, make, model, estimate of the miles, approximate value of the vehicle, loan amount and whether you intend to keep each vehicle. This includes motorcycles, RV’s, ATV’s, etc.
• Possible Claims you may have against anyone for any reason including personal injury, workers comp, wrongful death, etc.
• Business Information if you own a business: Value of business and its assets, etc.
• Estimate of your gross monthly income from ALL sources of income including food stamps, social security, child support, etc.