What if I Accidentally Leave a Creditor Off of My Bankruptcy?

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Under the stress of a bankruptcy filing, there are times when a creditor is inadvertently forgotten and left off of a bankruptcy filing. If you file Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy and realize that you accidentally left a creditor off of your bankruptcy, it may not be too late.

If you realize before your creditors’ meeting that you have omitted a creditor, you will need to contact your attorney immediately. Generally speaking, you can add a creditor before your creditors’ meeting. Your attorney may charge a small fee and the court will charge a filing fee, but for most debtors these fees are insignificant compared to the amount owed to the omitted creditor. Your attorney will also send out the proper notices to the omitted creditor after the creditor has been added to the bankruptcy filing.

If you realize after your creditors’ meeting that you have omitted a creditor, there are more strict time limitations to adding a creditor and you will need to contact your attorney immediately to determine whether or not the time frame for you to add a creditor has lapsed.

The most important way to avoid accidentally omitting a creditor from your bankruptcy prior to the filing of your petition is to double-check your credit report from each of the three main credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian (visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com to get your free credit report). You will also want to double-check your bills from your creditors to make sure that you have included all of your debts on your bankruptcy petition.