What happens if I miss a bill or income in my bankruptcy petition?

It is very important to be organized when filing for bankruptcy. While a trustee or judge will notice if you’re missing important documents about your income or assets, no one is going to tell you if you overlook one of your creditors. From time to time I have a client come to me after their case was filed, and sometimes after it’s been discharged, because they found a bill for a creditor that wasn’t caught on any credit report.

A debt is not discharged in bankruptcy if the creditor is not listed on the petition, and court papers served on that creditor. In other words, you will still owe them the entire debt. Before I let my clients sign their bankruptcy petition, I have them review the list of creditors carefully and confirm that we got them all. If there was any clerical error, it should be picked up by that point.

Fortunately, human nature is a known factor, and it’s possible to amend your bankruptcy petition to include more creditors, sometimes even after the discharge has been entered. This involves extra work and anyone who finds themselves in this position due to their own oversight should expect to pay an attorney a nominal fee to cover the time spent.

In short, be organized, but if something slips through the cracks it may not be the end of the world.