Which bankruptcy schedule does this go on? Can’t tell you how many questions I field about where on the official bankruptcy forms to schedule some asset.
Is the timeshare real property or personal property? What do you do with the claim, the chose in action, the car titled to debtor but paid for by someone else.
I have a secret to share. It doesn’t matter.
That is, it matters naught just where you put it on the schedules, so long as you put it somewhere. Full exposure, er, disclosure is the name of the game.
As long as you list the asset or transaction somewhere, you cannot go too far wrong. If all else fails, the last entry on schedule B is a catch all: other personal property of any kind, not already listed.
The debtors’ attorney in Werts succumbed to paralysis about where to list a transaction and resolved to omit the asset from the initial filing since she couldn’t decide. Bad choice. Mercifully, the decision didn’t cost the attorney or her clients anything more than a public scolding by the judge in a published opinion.
Nothing bars bankruptcy counsel from adding an explanatory paragraph, or even an addendum or exhibit if more space is required to lay out the situation. It’s hard to image a situation where prejudice arises from the choice of where on the schedules something appears.
Sort it out as best you can, and sleep well knowing that, no matter how complicated your client’s life and finances are, you’ve revealed the story elements in the schedules.
Image courtesy of nacentesan.
As in so many areas of our lives, it’s usually the simpler answer that is the most effective: To paraphrase one of our culture’s truisms, “Just List It”.