Accounts Receivable at filing

[Ineedhelp2]

As a self-employed person, if I am owed $5,000 by various customers at the time of filing, the court would claim that as an asset as I understand it.

Since this is money I'm waiting for, do they get it as soon as I get paid?

For example, if they know xyz company owes me $1,000, do I notify the court when xyz has paid me and send them $1,000?

Or may I pay the court over a certain time period?

Also, what if someone doesn't pay? What if I only collect $4,000 of the $5,000? Do I report that and do they adjust accordingly?

[DeadManCrawling]

I timed my filing so all my A/R were in and accounted for.

Here's how I did it:

I informed my client's accounting departments that I was doing some retirement planning. I billed them for outstanding work and "in progress work" a month in advance of filing. This was a suggestion from my accountant and attorney, together.

Not a client blinked an eye.

They ALL paid a month early and I used the money on typical expenses, advertising, utilities, food, insurance, etc.

Then I filed.

Now, I have just billed them for January, and it should all be okay. Will let you know if anything unusual occurs.

Of course, if you cannot do this, no one but you would know what accounts ARE receivable in the first place. That was also my attorney's suggestion. It skirts the edge of the law, but there are plenty of cases that hinged on misplaced records. Trustees lost all of them, that I can recall.

[DeadManCrawling]

And, if you have unused exemption, you can apply the exemption to the A/R.

Also, some states have additional exemptions for wages, collected or uncollected, in the bank or as receivables, for Head of Household. In FL, it is 6 months of wages, or up to about 18k, if I recall right, whether collected or not. You may want to look into this for your state.

[Ineedhelp2]

In my situation I don't think I'm going to be able to get around having at least some receivables on the books when I file. I'm hoping to keep it as low as possible, however.

Does the court get paid when I get paid, or may I pay them on some kind of payment plan, and would that plan be adjusted if someone doesn't pay?

My attorney told me that if I were a realtor and waited all year to receive a $20k commission, that if it was due when filing, the court would get it. (in Oregon)

[StartingOver08]

In my situation I don't think I'm going to be able to get around having at least some receivables on the books when I file. I'm hoping to keep it as low as possible, however.

Does the court get paid when I get paid, or may I pay them on some kind of payment plan, and would that plan be adjusted if someone doesn't pay?

My attorney told me that if I were a realtor and waited all year to receive a $20k commission, that if it was due when filing, the court would get it. (in Oregon)

This is exactly right. I had to provide the contracts, the commission schedules and when one of the contracts failed to close, the Release and Cancelation and explanation to the Trustee. In essence the receiveable is not yours, it belongs to the BK Estate and it goes to the Trustee immediately upon receipt.

[lookingforward]

We had collected everything we could before we filed. Our business has changed to prepayment anyway, so everything in A/R was pretty old.
When we invoice our customers, the invoice always has a zero balance because of the prepayment. So the trustee asked us about A/R, we told him the amount and that it was mostly bad debt. He said he didn't want it and that was it.