Can I leave one creditor out of a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition?

When you file for bankruptcy, you must complete a schedule listing all of your creditors. If you fail to do this, you will run into obstacles during the process. Additionally, you will not be able to have that particular debt discharged if it is not listed. Part of the filing process requires you to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury stating that your schedules listing the creditors is "true and correct." Deliberately excluding a legitimate creditor will be deemed a violation of this oath.

Paid-Off Creditor

Even if you pay off a creditor to whom you owed more than $600 and you do so within the 90 days prior to filing for bankruptcy you must list those payments in your schedules as a preference. The Bankruptcy Code permits a trustee to recover from creditors payments made shortly before the bankruptcy filing where the payment gave the creditor more than other similarly situated creditors would receive through the bankruptcy process. Therefore, a Chapter 7 trustee may require that the particular creditor relinquish the payment to the trustee so that the trustee may divide the money between the listed creditors. In a Chapter 13 filing, the amount used to make the payment may be affected by preferences.

Adding a Creditor after the Case has been Filed

If you unintentionally omitted a creditor and discover this mistake after you have filed your petition, you are allowed to amend the relevant schedule to add the missing creditor. For the creditor to share in any of the distributed assets, the creditor must file a Proof of Claim within the 60 days following the date of the scheduled creditors meeting with the trustee.  As long as the creditor is notified of the bankruptcy in time to file the requisite Proof of Claim, he/she/it can be added as a creditor to the filing.

Creditors Discovered After a Chapter 7 Discharge

If you discover an omitted creditor after a Chapter 7 discharge, generally you will not be able to discharge this debt and will remain liable to this particular creditor. However, some courts hold that all debts are discharged in a "no-asset" Chapter 7 bankruptcy even if not listed. A "no-asset" filing means that the debtor has no non-exempt assets available to the trustee to liquidate to satisfy the creditors. However, this is generally dependent on the unilateral power of the court as the Bankruptcy Code does not specifically address this issue.

Talk with an experienced bankruptcy attorney to discuss your particular case.