When you start to fill out the paperwork for your bankruptcy, it can seem a bit overwhelming.  It seems you have to provide every single bit of information regarding your life and finances.  In a sense, you do.  The Bankruptcy Code states that you MUST disclose ALL of your assets to the court, including but not limited to, personal property, debt collections, and financial accounts.

Stock falls along the lines of a personal account.  Think about it, if you hit hard times and needed cash, you could sell a portion (or all) of your stock to get money.  You always have to remember that if you can touch the money, then the court or bankruptcy Trustee can too.  To protect your asset you will need to make sure that it is listed in the bankruptcy and valued correctly.  To determine the value of your stock, you will need to take the current market value and multiply it by the number of shares that you own.

Protecting your stock all depends on the amount of “wildcard” exemption.  This is an exemption that can be used for basically any property that you have/own.  If the stock is able to be protected under the “wildcard” exemption, then the Trustee will not interfere with the stock.  If the stock is not properly protected, the Trustee will have the right to seize the stock, sell it and use the proceeds to pay your creditors.

In order to protect your assets, it’s important that you fully and accurately disclose your property to your bankruptcy attorney. An experienced bankruptcy attorney will be able to use bankruptcy exemptions to protect most, if not all, of your personal property.