Who is Included on My Bankruptcy List of Creditors?

When an individual decides to file bankruptcy, one of the necessary steps is to complete a bankruptcy list of creditors, all creditors that the person owes.  Failure to do so could land the filer in trouble with the court, not to mention that he cannot have a debt discharged which is not listed in the bankruptcy documentation.  As part of the filing process the debtor must sign a declaration swearing that the schedules listing creditors is "true and correct," and this is under penalty of perjury.  Deliberately excluding a creditor is seen as a violation of this oath.

Paid Off Credit Cards 

If you retain a credit card (a MasterCard or Visa) and there is no balance on the card - in other words, it is paid off at the time you file for bankruptcy - then this account (would-be creditor) does not need to be listed.  You may even be able to continue to use this account following the bankruptcy.  Other creditors, such as American Express, review bankruptcy filings and quite often will cancel your card, even if you did not list them as a creditor in your filing.

Paying off a Creditor to Avoid Listing

Should you pay-off a creditor owed more than $600 within the 90 days prior to filing for bankruptcy you are required to list those payments in your schedules as a preference.  When these creditors are relatives or business associates, they can make payments that total at least $600 as long as it is in the year prior to filing.  These debts must be listed as preferences. It is quite possible that the court appointed trustee in a Chapter 7 case may require that the creditor relinquish these payments to him so that he can divide them between all the listed creditors.  In the case of Chapter 13 the amount used to make these payments may be affected by preferences.

Adding a Creditor after the Case has been Filed

As long as you add a creditor soon enough following your filing, you can add a creditor.  For the creditor to share in any of the assets to be distributed by the trustee, they must first file a Proof of Claim within the 60 days following the date of the meeting scheduled with the trustee.  As long as the creditor is notified of the bankruptcy in time to file a Proof of Claim, he can be added as a creditor to the filing. 

Creditors Discovered After a Chapter 7 Discharge

Should creditors be discovered after a Chapter 7 discharge, even if they existed prior to the filing, the general rule is that these debts will not be discharged and the debtor will remain liable to pay these creditors. 

There are many courts, however, that will hold that all debts will be discharged in a "no-asset" Chapter 7 bankruptcy, even if they were not listed at filing. ("No asset" means that there are no non-exempt assets available to the trustee to liquidate to pay off creditors). But, this is really a court-by-court decision.  The bankruptcy code is not particularly clear on this issue.  The current trend is to discharge unlisted debts in a no-asset case.  The code, however, is interpreted in different ways in different courts. Some allow the petitioner to reopen the case and add the debt, while others will not allow the debt to be added and will deny its discharge.  The discharge of these unlisted debts is generally due to the fact that in cases of no-asset bankruptcy, there is nothing for the trustee to liquidate, and therefore there is no need for creditors to file a Proof of Claim.

Speak with an Attorney

Questions regarding the specifics of a bankruptcy case, including exactly which creditors must be added to a bankruptcy list of creditors should be addressed with a competent bankruptcy attorney.