{"id":75,"date":"2012-01-26T21:58:30","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T21:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/?p=75"},"modified":"2021-05-04T21:27:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T21:27:01","slug":"what-should-i-avoid-prior-to-filing-for-bankruptcy-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/2012\/what-should-i-avoid-prior-to-filing-for-bankruptcy-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should I Avoid Prior to Filing for Bankruptcy Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ryan C. Wood<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to the previous article, How to Avoid Fraud Charges in Bankruptcy<\/a>, there are certain things that you should not do prior to filing for bankruptcy, as it may inconvenience you, or hinder or delay your case.<\/p>\n

Banking<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When it comes to banking, most consumers are loyal to their banks.\u00a0 The most common phrase I hear is, \u201cBut I\u2019ve been banking with \u201cX\u201d Bank for more than \u201cX\u201d years!\u00a0 They have been very good to me.\u201d\u00a0 These banks are so good to their customers that they are allowing them to take out credit cards that are linked to their bank accounts.\u00a0 What the consumers don\u2019t realize is that if they are behind on their payments, the banks have the ability to offset the debt by taking the money from their customer\u2019s bank accounts.\u00a0 They are able to do so because the contracts signed (which most people don\u2019t read) allow them to do so.\u00a0 Thus, consumers are surprised to find that when it comes time to send off the rent check or mortgage payment, they don\u2019t have the money to do so because their bank already has a chunk of their money.\u00a0 To avoid this scenario, do not bank at an institution where you owe money.\u00a0 Some consumers think they are safe if they do not have the funds in their bank accounts.\u00a0 This is not always true.\u00a0 Banks can still offset the debt, and then you would be considered overdrawn, and now you would owe bank fees and bounced checks due to non-sufficient funds.<\/p>\n

Paying Down Debt<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you were trying to avoid bankruptcy, then paying down your debt is a great idea.\u00a0 However, if you already know that your only available option is to file bankruptcy, you should not be paying back your creditors, especially your family and friends, whom are considered \u201cinsiders.\u201d\u00a0 Paying creditors back is considered a \u201cpreference.\u201d If you have paid back more than $600 to an \u201cinsider\u201d in the past year, the trustee has the option of going after the person you paid back to get the money back for the bankruptcy estate, if the funds are significant enough.<\/p>\n

Receiving Inheritance<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you believe you are listed as a beneficiary in a will, trust, or life insurance policy, and you are about to receive the inheritance within the next six months, you may not wish to file for bankruptcy.\u00a0 Any proceeds received within 180 days of the filing of your bankruptcy petition are considered to be a part of your bankruptcy estate.\u00a0 If you receive a substantial inheritance, there may not be enough exemptions to protect the inheritance, and in a Chapter 7, the inheritance could be used to pay off your debt to your creditors.\u00a0 Thus, if you think you will receive a substantial inheritance, you may be better off trying to negotiate with your creditors instead.<\/p>\n

Lying to Your Attorney<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you retained the services of an attorney to proceed with your bankruptcy case, it is imperative that you do not lie to them about your finances.\u00a0 You should not hide your assets from your attorney, nor should you lie by omitting certain important information regarding your situation to your attorney.\u00a0 Your attorney cannot protect you if they do not know about your problem.\u00a0 If there was an issue in your bankruptcy case, you do not want your attorneys to be the only one in the room surprised by the problem.\u00a0 Your attorneys are not mind readers, they would not know that they need to help you if you do not tell them.<\/p>\n

If you need the help of an experienced bankruptcy lawyer<\/a> or bankruptcy lawyer in Union City<\/a>, call us today at 877-9NEW-LIFE or 877-963-9543 to schedule a free consultation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ryan C. Wood In addition to the previous article, How to Avoid Fraud Charges in Bankruptcy, there are certain things that you should not do prior to filing for bankruptcy, as it may inconvenience you, or hinder or delay your case. Banking When it comes to banking, most consumers are loyal to their banks.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1134,"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/1134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fremont-bankruptcy-attorney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}