Errors in Petition

[DivorceRuinedMe]

I never received a copy of the actual petition that my attorney filed (I know - my bad). Today, I went into Pacer and printed out a copy of it. I noticed that there were a few errors:

1.) Paralegal left off a bunch of my property - all of it was exempted but still - it looks like all I have is a couch, a matress, my clothing, engagement ring, watch and some dvds. I have a lot more stuff than this, again, all exempted but still. I'm nervous now. Should I be?

2.) My salary on the means test is wrong. On line 3 it looks like the paralegal put my BIWEEKLY salary instead of my monthly average. I'm still under the median by about 5k but still - it's an error. Need I be concerned?

When I called the atty's office and talked to the paralegal she was kinda put out by my call and was like, I don't have your file in front of me but I'll bring it up to the atty before the 341 which is this coming Tuesday the 18th. She was like, if it needs to be amended, we'll talk about it.

What do I do now? I'm scared! Plus, my case is being audited (I found out it was one of the random 250 that gets audited, not for fraud or anything). I'm even more worried now b/c of this. UGH! This is such a nightmare!

[rrockinggramma]

Your attorney will need to amend your petition, preferably before the 341 but soon after if not. Paralegal's can be such a pain some times. LOLOL She is probably the one that typed it. However, as long as you have pointed it out to the attorney, and if the trustee asks at the 341, you answer truthfully, you should be ok.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

It probably costs more money to do an amendment, huh? I really shouldn't have to pay for that seeing as it was the paralegals mistake! Do you think I should call back again tomorrow and ask if the attorney had a chance to look at it? The clock is ticking and I'm starting to get really nervous.

[HHM]

1. If the property left off is misc. personal property (i.e. furniture, etc), no big deal.

2. Yes, you do need to fix the salary.

But there is nothing to be "scared" about.

No, the attorney should not charge you more for doing an amendment. And the court only charges a $26 filing fee if you amend the creditors matrix. Otherwise, you can amend your petition all you want.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

Property left off is all miscellaneous so we should be good there. I don't want to bug the atty unnecessarily so I won't say anything about that.

But - the salary thing - you think I should call the paralegal again and make sure that they correct it BEFORE the 341 on Tuesday? Or, should I not be a pain and just let it be and have it corrected at the 341? I don't want to delay my case, but then again, I don't want to P.O. the atty's staff that up until now have been so nice to me.

[HHM]

At least ask them to correct it.

At the 341 meeting you will be asked.

1. Did you review the petition before it was filed (NO)
2. Have you reviewed the petition between now and when you filed (YES)
3. Is everything on the petition accurate. etc (NO)

If you don't at least ask to get it fixed, you will look like a idiot at the 341.

If you ask to have it fixed before the 341 then you can answer #3 as
3. Is everything on the petition accurate (NO), but I requested my attorney to fix it about 2 weeks ago....

[DivorceRuinedMe]

I don't want to get my atty in trouble by saying that I asked them to fix it but then again, getting myself in trouble doesn't sound much better either!! LOL.

I feel like an idiot for not sticking around to review it before she filed it. I just took it for granted that she would type it up correctly!! How stupid! I mean, you would think that the paralegals would go over these things with a fine toothed comb. I guess it's common to make mistakes and I shouldn't get my panties all in a bunch. I'm just so stressed out right now (as I'm sure everybody is at this stage in the game) and I'm paranoid of doing something wrong that could end up hurting me big time.

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Just FYI about the property... items less than $50 are generally not listed, because then you'd be listing every fork or toothpick or hairbrush you own. If they generalized things like "household goods, $200" that should be fine. The salary is different, you do need that corrected. As long as you are completely honest at the 341, you'll be okay, even when you get audited. Your pay stubs and bank accounts are going to show definitively what you got paid and when *anyway*, so if it's not fixed by 341 time you say that, very clearly, to the trustee so that there is no misunderstanding later during the audit. He may ask you to file amended schedules; if so, that's good. You do them and that's the end of it. Or he may think it's a small enough difference to leave as is.

Don't fear getting your attorney into trouble; fear YOU getting into trouble.

HHM is completely right about everything he's said to you, and I would add that your attorney and his staff work for YOU. You don't work for them. If they made some mistakes they need to fix them, and if someone there gets p.o.'d about it, too bad. It was their mistake. Put it this way: your bankruptcy and your finances are far more important than someone's temporary irritations. If you begin to see it this way, and assist them in seeing it this way, things will go a lot smoother when you have to contact them to fix something: your confidence and assertiveness will put those boundaries right back where they need to be.

[PaKettle]

I never received a copy of the actual petition that my attorney filed (I know - my bad). Today, I went into Pacer and printed out a copy of it. I noticed that there were a few errors:

1.) Paralegal left off a bunch of my property - all of it was exempted but still - it looks like all I have is a couch, a matress, my clothing, engagement ring, watch and some dvds. I have a lot more stuff than this, again, all exempted but still. I'm nervous now. Should I be?

2.) My salary on the means test is wrong. On line 3 it looks like the paralegal put my BIWEEKLY salary instead of my monthly average. I'm still under the median by about 5k but still - it's an error. Need I be concerned?

When I called the atty's office and talked to the paralegal she was kinda put out by my call and was like, I don't have your file in front of me but I'll bring it up to the atty before the 341 which is this coming Tuesday the 18th. She was like, if it needs to be amended, we'll talk about it.

What do I do now? I'm scared! Plus, my case is being audited (I found out it was one of the random 250 that gets audited, not for fraud or anything). I'm even more worried now b/c of this. UGH! This is such a nightmare!

You are lucky, you discovered this 6 days before your 341; I discovered similar problems with mine only 2 days before when my attorney was out of town until the night before my 341!
You can see my thread and the forum's responses about that here:

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=19727

Here's what I'd do if I were you:
1) I'd call and demand to talk to the ATTORNEY, not the paralegal and inform him that the form is wrong and ask him if he can correct the paperwork so you can turn in the right paperwork the day of your 341 or even before, if possible.

Of course this may p.o. the paralegal who told you she'd take care of it, but just be nice and say, "I'm sorry, but I really would feel more comfortable talking to my attorney about this." If they stonewall you, get more forceful. Tell them you're paying for an attorney and you want to talk to him for 5 minutes! In my opinion the paralegal is acting like a jerk and you don't have to put up with that. Politely demand your rights as a consumer/client, that you talk with YOUR ATTORNEY regarding a MISTAKE on YOUR PETITION!

2) your property not being listed is no big deal. The trustee is not interested in your used property like furniture, computers and tv's etc.. They didn't list my computer or stereo or any of that stuff on mine and that was no problem during my 341.

3) My projected salary for 2007 was off by $10k on my form!
This is what I did and probably what you should do (what my attorney had me do)(CHECK WITH YOUR'S!):
When the trustee asked me, at the beginning, as they are required to do: "Is everything on this form accurate?", I said "No, there are a few minor mistakes" and then I explained that there was a "typo" where my salary was listed as $10k less than it should be.

In your case you will probably do the same thing and then tell them that there is a mistake re your salary on that line. (Of course, this is assuming you cannot get it corrected BEFORE the 341. Personally I'd push for doing that instead.)

Bottom line: if you aren't hiding anything, then none of this is a problem, really. It's just a matter of amending your form. No big deal at all.

So relax. It's going to be fine. Mine was, and I had more serious problems with my petition than you did.

Let this be a lesson to everyone:
Check your forms before the attorney files them. If not, get them from Pacer. You can download them as a .pdf and then print them. I asked my attorney to let me do this, but of course he did not comply. All he gave me was the list of creditors to check. I should have made sure he did it. I've noticed on this forum that most attorneys seem to not want to do this, which I don't understand because WE ARE REQUIRED TO SAY WE READ THE FORMS AND CHECKED THEM FOR ACCURACY! So we should make sure they give us a copy to check.

So I procrastinated and did not check it on Pacer until a few days before my 341, which was my mistake, and then I found HIS errors, luckily in time to tell them at the beginning of my meeting that things were wrong, and get me out of hot water with the UST.

[Bankruptcy Atty]

It Is 1 Out Of 200 Not 250 And You Have Trouble

I never received a copy of the actual petition that my attorney filed (I know - my bad). Today, I went into Pacer and printed out a copy of it. I noticed that there were a few errors:

1.) Paralegal left off a bunch of my property - all of it was exempted but still - it looks like all I have is a couch, a matress, my clothing, engagement ring, watch and some dvds. I have a lot more stuff than this, again, all exempted but still. I'm nervous now. Should I be?

2.) My salary on the means test is wrong. On line 3 it looks like the paralegal put my BIWEEKLY salary instead of my monthly average. I'm still under the median by about 5k but still - it's an error. Need I be concerned?

When I called the atty's office and talked to the paralegal she was kinda put out by my call and was like, I don't have your file in front of me but I'll bring it up to the atty before the 341 which is this coming Tuesday the 18th. She was like, if it needs to be amended, we'll talk about it.

What do I do now? I'm scared! Plus, my case is being audited (I found out it was one of the random 250 that gets audited, not for fraud or anything). I'm even more worried now b/c of this. UGH! This is such a nightmare!

IF YOUR ATTY DOESN'T FIX THIS IMMEDIATELY - THEN GET A BK PRO W/I THE NEXT 7 DAYS. THERE IS MALPRACTICE HERE. W/O ANOTHER ATTY, YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE MOST OF THE HEAT.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

UGH! I called this morning to check on things and they just KEEP GETTING WORSE!

I was informed by the paralegal that she hadn't even looked at it yet, that the attorney was going out of town and she was giving my case to another attorney to handle. I asked how I would even know what this attorney looked like to meet with her at the 341 and she said, she didn't even know what she looked like. I then reiterated that I thought this was very important and she said she was going to talk to the attorney today before she left. It's now Thursday and my 341 is on TUESDAY!

Someone please tell me not to panic b/c I'm starting to hyperventilate here.