Question

[readysetgo]

OK I have been reading through here and had a quick question.
If you have money in a bank account and close it a few months before going bankrupt and you don't say anything. How would they know?


Same with money from a future lawsuit or money you may have had from a lawsuit. Or if your grandmother dies and leaves you money. Just some examples. How would they know if you don't tell them?

Is there some way of them knowing?

[ARO96]

Not sure about the bank account, but my lawyer did ask us if we were expecting money anytime soon from a lawsuit and was someone in our family ill and would they be dying soon and leaving us money. We answered no, and honestly that probably is the best thing to do. If you try to hide something, and it comes out later, you could find yourself in a whole lot of trouble.

[readysetgo]

I was just wondering if there was some sort of database they could look in to.

[keepmine]

If a trustee cares enough, a list of probated wills from the probate judges office is a public record.
As to lawsuits, be real careful here. Many defense lawyers will do some opposition research and will scan pacer and lexis to see if the plantiff has filed bk. They'll turn you in to the trustee.

[CindyLou]

readysetgo,
chexsystems is a database that holds info on inquired to open bank accounts. additionally your social security number is tied to each and every bank account that you hold and any interest earned is reported to the IRS each year. If the trustee wanted to check he could, believe me. Even skip tracers who do not work for the government can run reports to see what bank accounts are linked to your social. How do you think they find out where your bank accounts are in order to garnish them? They do an assett search by social....and poof there you are. So if a skip tracer can find you, believe me a trustee with government clearance can certainly find out. Trustees can also do DMV searches, probate searches, title searches on real property, etc etc if they are suspicisious. If you are hiding something they will find out. They don't check everything on everybody, but they are sharp cookies. They can sniff our a fake a mile away. Go sit in on a 341. They know in the first 5 second of a 341 and you can see if go bad so fast your head will SPIN!!!!!!

These guys do probably hundred of BKs a week. Believe me they will know.

The defense lawyer thing is SO true. If they are mad about losing. They will almost 100% of the time see if the plaintiff is in BK!! If takes them 2 minutes to type your name in pacer! And what sweet revenge that you won't get to keep that money and have to turn it over to the trustee!!! They will turn you in in a new york minute. So fast.

In all things BK.....BE HONEST!!!!!

[guzzie]

always tell the truth!! good luck....guzzie

[readysetgo]

As far as the lawsuit how long of a period of time do they watch that. I mean if you file say now and a year or two down the road you get something they can still take the money. Or is there a certain time period like six months.

Also say you opened a bank account and only had it for say 6 months and you close it and you have not filed a tax return yet can they still see that. Since they do not report the interest till the end of the year?

I read some one on here blew like several grand before filing bankruptcy. Purchased like mattress's and things like that. That is OK they will not question something like that?

Thanks for the replies.

[Flamingo]

OK I have been reading through here and had a quick question.
If you have money in a bank account and close it a few months before going bankrupt and you don't say anything. How would they know?


Same with money from a future lawsuit or money you may have had from a lawsuit. Or if your grandmother dies and leaves you money. Just some examples. How would they know if you don't tell them?

Is there some way of them knowing?

The issue here is would you rather be honest about something like that or live in fear that if it was not disclosed that something bad could occur from it? All your actions are traceable as to your bank accounts, taxes, personal information, social security number, etc. If someone suspects fraud and knows you are in BK and reports it to your Trustee, all it takes is a subpoena to find that information. When you receive funds from a lawsuit, inheritance, insurance settlement, etc., when the payment is made to you via check in order for the issuing party to give you that check, they have to have your social security number due to tax reasons on their side. That payment is reported by them to the IRS and that it went to you, them providing the IRS with your SS#. Some settlements may not need to be reported as income but the IRS has information on you that you received that amount because it had to be paid by the other party and the amount reported. There really is no way to hide - it's just taking risks if you feel you don't have to report it. Why live with that fear? When you disclose all the information to your attorney and withhold something, when you sign the papers you are confirming to your attorney and the Court that all the information provided by you is true and correct. If you are hiding something, you've got a problem that can arise at any time and really create a giant issue. Remember, it's all traceable and can easily be found out. Honesty IS the best policy, to protect yourself and your family.

[keepmine]

An potential inheritence, lawsuit or divorce settlement can be property of the bk estate if it occurs within 180 days of your filing date.

http://doney.net/bkcode/11usc0541.htm

[Boscoe]

When you file your statement of financial affairs, one of the questions is "Have you closed any financial accounts in the past year?"

The reason for this question is to prevent someone closing an account with a good amount of money in it, putting it under their mattress, not disclosing it in the bk and the creditors get less $$ then they should.

If you do this and they ask you for a year's worth of bank statements, you WILL get caught and probably dismissed due to fraud.

[Flamingo]

An potential inheritence, lawsuit or divorce settlement can be property of the bk estate if it occurs within 180 days of your filing date.

http://doney.net/bkcode/11usc0541.htm

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the above applies only to Chapter 7 bankruptcies; Our attorney advised us that if we received any inheritance, lottery jackpot, win a lawsuit, etc. during our 5 year Chapter 13 Plan, those amounts must be disclosed inasmuch as the Trustee is in control of your financial house for the entire Plan term. Nondisclosure could result in Plan dismissal. We did run into an inheritance issue with the death of a father-in-law when we were less than two years into our Plan. Since we were in a Chapter 13 and there was a house at issue and the house was going to be sold, we had to get our attorney involved and we had to disclose everything. This was way past 180 days from the date of filing our Chapter 13