homeless, so no street address

[pelican]

Am ready to file Ch7, but petition requests a "street address of debtor". Since I'm now living in my car for the last 2 months, I no longer have a street address. (I do have a P. O. Box for receiving mail, and will show that as my mailing address). For privacy reasons, I won't use any of my friends addresses. Can I just put the P. O. Box in that space? Or, do I need to rent a private "Mail Boxes Plus" box just to be able to fill in some kind of a street address? Or, ??? Don't want to leave it blank.

[justbroke]

Good question.

While the instructions for Official Form 1 (the "Petition") asks for the Address of Principal Interests, it is used for jurisdictional purposes. I don't see anywhere in the instructions that inform a debtor to NOT use a P.O. Box.

You could always contact the Clerk of the Court for specifics.

[kenshirley]

I would also think that you could list the address of any shelter as a temporary address for the time being.
But somebody is going to have to have a valid address on you for the purpose of mailing your 341 meeting notice to you anyway so you had better talk to the clerk.

[justbroke]

I would also think that you could list the address of any shelter as a temporary address for the time being.
But somebody is going to have to have a valid address on you for the purpose of mailing your 341 meeting notice to you anyway so you had better talk to the clerk.

I believe Ken has an excellent good point. What I didn't think about, is where you need to be served in person. that makes it difficult with a P.O. Box.

But, again, call the Clerk of the Court and ask.

[Rick9972]

I know for "normal" Federal court a PO Box is fine. You do not have to have a street address just a address where papers can be sent/served.

[music12]

you may use your prior address as a street address (in some states you may even vote with a prior address if you become homeless). you say you have been living in your car for 2 months, so you must have lived somewhere before that. that's your street address. hopefully you have your mail forwarded from there to your pobox, but even if not the only thing that would happen is that the mail from the court going to the street address would bounce back. the mail to the pobox will get to you.

the court will send the notices both to your pobox and to the street address. just make sure your pobox is listed as your mailing address.

i am guessing you were evicted or foreclosed on, which is not uncommon for people filing bk.

you are right not to give out friends' addresses. they don't need to be subjected to your court proceedings, plus you probably don't want them to know, plus you live in your car and not with them so saying their address is your street address wouldn't be the truth anyway.

good luck

[justbroke]

For sure, I would make 100% sure that the address you put on the form is somewhere where you regularly receive mail. It is important that you can be properly served papers from the Court and creditors.

[bkmaggster]

I'm confused...several of these responses discuss being served papers. In my understanding, service involves a personal signature at a street address, typically delivered by a process server or a sheriff.

As far as I know, there aren't any papers served in the BK process, just mailed. In which case a P.O. box should be adequate.

I may be missing something or misinformed, though.

[blankslate]

I was never served with anything myself during the bk process. Everything just went through the regular mail to my mailbox. I was served in a small claims process which was before I filed for bk and they served me at my work.

[justbroke]

I'm confused...several of these responses discuss being served papers. In my understanding, service involves a personal signature at a street address, typically delivered by a process server or a sheriff.

You can be served via regular mail. Most things in Bankruptcy are in fact served, only it's done via U.S. Mail and not via personal service.

[Gar]

I'm afraid I can't offer any helpful advice but just wanted to say good luck to you in your situation. Whenever I feel down, I see a post like yours and realize things can get worse. Best of luck to you. Really.

[dingdong]

Hey pelican,

Have you tried applying for some kind of aid for homeless assistance?

I believe there is a SS program for homeless assistance that can help you get into a rental. At least there used to be when i was in College.

What state do you live in? Also, if you live in a college town, this is a very good time of year to get a cheap sublet from kids that want to keep their houses/rooms until school starts in the Fall, but want to make up the rent they are paying while they are gone.

Look on Craigslist, under roommates/rooms for rent. You may be able to get in a place for at least a few months with very little money up front and low rent.

[whipster1]

PO Box address is fine. That's all you have so that's all you have. The physical address is for jurisdictional purposes, and you will be testifying under oath about where you live.

[pelican]

a solution.....

Thanks for all the input. Much appreciated!

The petition specifically asks for a street address and a mailing address (if different). As I mentioned earlier, since the petition will be public record, I don't want to expose any of my friends to any hassles down the line, so out of respect for their privacy, I wouldn't use their addresses.

When I was recently no longer able to pay rent, I vacated my apartment voluntarily, so as not to put the landlord through the hassle of evicting me. They have been great to me, so I wanted to spare them that hassle. Since I feel more comfortable and safer in my car than in a shelter, I'll be avoiding shelters, in the meantime. For now, I have enough of an income just to cover food, gas, and other essentials, but not enough to rent anywhere, so, for now, the car is home. And, thank goodness for free wi-fi at my local library.

I'm doing the Chapter 7 in pro per, and responsible for filling out all the paperwork, but I am getting help in doing so from Legal Aid. They have been extremely helpful.


Spoke with the Clerk: They said they can't tell me what to do, but suggested the following:
1. use a friend's address. (nope.) Or,
2. use a relative's address, as long as the relative lives within the jurisdiction of the court. (All my relatives are out of state, so, nope.) But,
3. In any event, I do need to fill in a street address, one that is within the court's jurisdiction, to show venue.

So, based on the above, and after reading all the comments, and after much discussion with my Legal Aid advisor: I'm going to rent a "public mailbox" (a "UPS/mailbox etc" type of thing), and hold on to it until I get a discharge, or find a place to live (whichever comes first). This will give me a local "street address", in addition to a mailing address (my P. O. Box). It appears to be the most honest and practical way to be responsive to the petition, the closest thing to a "street address" that I can legitimately provide, under the circumstances. Being that I've lived in the jurisdiction for over 15 years, and that I am still "living" a few blocks from my old apartment, it's the best I can do at this time.

[justbroke]

Gotta love the clerk's office... can't tell you what to put. (I guess it's in the wording as it's true that they can't provide legal advice.) So, we all learned something today. I knew that the address was used for jurisdiction, but didn't know they could be a stickler about it. I'm glad that you have not only received the answer to your question, but that you also were able to fix the issue.