How to Add a Creditor to a Bankruptcy After You Filed
A bankruptcy petition is meant to be complete at the time you submit it to the bankruptcy court. However, because the petition asks for a lot of detailed information, you may inadvertently omit an item, such as one of your creditors. To ensure that your discharge includes all of your creditors, you should file an amendment with the court as soon as possible to add any omitted creditors. The court has a procedure to handle petition amendments, because it is a common occurrence.
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Instructions
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Get appropriate local forms. Although the ability to add a creditor to a bankruptcy petition is the same from state to state, most bankruptcy courts have their own forms that they prefer you use to file amendments. You can visit your local bankruptcy clerk in person to get the correct forms, or you can usually look on the website of your local county court.
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Add the missing creditor to the appropriate bankruptcy schedule(s). A bankruptcy petition includes many forms, known as schedules, and they are divided by function. For example, Schedule A is where you list your real estate assets, and Schedule B is where you list your personal property. If your omitted creditor is an unsecured creditor, such as a credit card company, you must amend your Schedule F. If your creditor holds a secured claim on your assets, such as a home mortgage loan, you must add that creditor to your amended Schedule D.
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Amend your creditor matrix. The creditor matrix is essentially an alphabetical list of the names and addresses of all your creditors. The bankruptcy court uses the creditor matrix to determine who should receive a copy of information about your bankruptcy court. Because it may be difficult to discharge a debt owed to a creditor that was not informed that you filed bankruptcy, it is important to include all creditors in your matrix.
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Pay the amendment fee. If you modify your matrix or otherwise change the creditors in your petition, you must pay a $26 filing fee (as of publication) to the court when you submit your amended petition.
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