The information contained in this article is solely intended to increase the skills of paralegals and other legal staff who are employed virtually or non-virtually by bankruptcy attorneys. This information is NOT taught in any law school or paralegal training course. If you are a bankruptcy attorney and wish to train your entire staff, call 713Training.Com LLC at 614.875.4496.
WARNING: This information is not to be used by non-attorneys to prepare bankruptcy petitions for the general public. The information is solely intended to train legal professionals working under the direction of licensed bankruptcy attorneys.
1. If the county courthouse where the debtor(s) are filing bankruptcy is online, you will need to run a Lien Search for every piece of real estate the debtor(s) own. The lienholder information will also tell you if there are any foreclosures or judgment liens on the property which will need to be added to the debt sheets and/or asset pages.
2. If the debtor(s) are behind in their mortgage payments be sure to alert the attorney at once. If the debtor(s) are filing a Chapter 7 they may be required to catch up all the back payments before their bankruptcy can be discharged. If the debtor(s) are filing a Chapter 13, the back payments (also known as “arrears”) will need to be included inside the Chapter 13 plan so they can be paid in full.
3. To determine how many months are left to pay off a secure debt, divide the regular monthly payment by the total balance still owed. For example: $45,000 is the total balance owed. The monthly payment is $1,200. Therefore, $45,000 divided by $1,200 = 37.5. Round up the number to 38 and this is number of months you enter into your bankruptcy software on Schedule A under the FORM 22 MEANS TEST tab.
4. Be sure to check the Appraisal Date for any piece of real estate. If the property has not been appraised within the last 12 months you should alert your attorney at once. Your attorney may order the debtor(s) to get an appraisal or the attorney may direct you to call a real estate agent and get the appraisal. In the meantime, make a note on your Attorney Cover Sheet to let the attorney know the amount will need to be changed to a more current market value when it is obtained from the appraiser.
5. Make sure you notice the Type of real estate the property is. Do not assume real estate is the home the debtor(s) reside in. For example, if the real estate is rental property, that property normally generates a rental income for the debtor(s). This information MUST be included as additional income under Item #1 of the Statement of Affairs as well as on Schedule I of the bankruptcy petition.
6. If the debtor(s) own a mobile home, make sure you find out if the mobile home has had the wheels removed or not. If so, the mobile home should be listed as real property on Schedule A. If not, the mobile home is recorded in the same manner as other Motor Vehicles on Schedule B.
7. On the Date Incurred line within your bankruptcy software make sure you include the Monthly Payment and the total amount of monthly Arrearages. This information will ultimately appear on Schedule D when the bankruptcy petition is completed.
Here is an example: 10/2003, Mnthly Pymt = $960.55, Arrears: 2 mnths
Including this information for every secure debt will enable you to have the information available when completing the Means Test as well as if the debtor(s) become a Chapter 13. Additionally, including the monthly payment and arrearage information will also enable the debt to be easily cross-referenced and identified. For example, a mortgage payment of $960.55 will also appear under the monthly expenses of Schedule J as well as under Item 3(a) of the Statement of Affairs if the debtor(s) have made payments within the last three (3) months.
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About the Author
Victoria Ring is a Certified Paralegal and Bankruptcy Specialist. She has developed an entire line of training products and holds several seminars per year in drafting bankruptcy petitions. Her training materials have been approved by NALS for 7 CLE credits. Additionally, Victoria Ring provides speaking and in-house training services for bankruptcy law firms. Visit her website at here
Bankruptcy often is the last ultimate solution for many debtors who have unbearable debts. With filing a bankruptcy, you will get rid of your debts instantly and relief you from the harassing call of your creditors.
Although bankruptcy has many undesirable consequences such as your bad credit record will remain on your credit report for 7-10 years, but with a little work, you can improve your credit even before these negative records expire. Here are five easy steps you can take to rebuild your credit.
Step 1: Get to know your current credit status
The first step to rebuilding your credit is to look at exactly where you stand. Order all your three credit reports from those three national credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You can order these reports online, it easy and secure.
Print each report and review it closely. Try to understand the information listed in your credit reports and highlight any negative records or inaccuracies that are damaging your credit score.
Step 2: Check the expiration dates
By law, your bad credit record will remain in your credit report for 7 to 10 years, but the exact expiry date might be different among these 3 reports. Your bad record will still remain at your credit report although you have pay off your old debts and discharge from bankruptcy.
Look up the exact date of each of bad records including judgments, liens, charge-offs, late payments, bankruptcy filings, and collection records. You will likely see a major improvement in your credit score when these records expire.
Step 3: Request For Correct On Any Inaccurate Records
If you find inaccurate records, fraudulent accounts, or records that should have expired on you credit reports, you have the right to send a separate dispute letter to each of the credit bureaus to correct your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion records. The bureaus will initial a 30 days investigation to see whether your requests are valid and if so, they will correct the inaccuracy in your credit report.
Just one note, don’t try to dispute any of the positive information listed in your credit reports and it is a waste of time to attempt to dispute these records. Disputing positive information may actually harm your credit scores.
Step 4: Start to create good credits
Since there is no way to remove your bad record from your credit report, the best way to improve your credit score is to add good credits and building up your credit from there. You can easy do this by open up a new credit card from banks like Orchard Bank (Orchard bank has credit card plan designed specially to help people rebuild their credit after bankruptcy).
Use this new credit card responsibly and make the monthly payment timely; with this you are building new history of good credit behavior on your credit report. Over time, you may want to open additional credit card accounts or obtain a loan to boost your credit score even higher.
Step 5: Monitor your progress
Subscribe to a credit card monitoring service or get a credit card monitoring software and use it to track your credit score progress closely. Your credit score should improve steadily as you continue to use credit responsibly and add new positive information to your credit reports.
Summary
Bankruptcy does not need to chain you to bad credit for the next seven to ten years, but you have to be proactive in order to recover and rebuild your credit.
Cornie Herring is the Author from StudyKiosk.com. “StudyKiosk-Credit Basics” is an informational website on credit basics and debt consolidation.
