What Can I Do Before Filing Bankruptcy?

We get asked a lot about what folks can do in the time running up to filing a bankruptcy. What can they do with their assets? What can they do with their debt? And the answer is, don't do much.

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Transcript

Hi, this is Nate Riordan from West Coast Bankruptcy Law. We get asked a lot about what folks can do in the time running up to filing a bankruptcy. What can they do with their assets? What can they do with their debt? And the answer is, don't do much.

If you transfer things, give things away, it can lead to you losing your discharge. People can object your discharge on the grounds that you've squirreled away, or you've hindered or delayed your creditors' ability to collect their debts. It's definitely trouble that you don't want to get into, because it's not worth it. You can discharge tens, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars in debt, but if you make the wrong transfers prior to a bankruptcy, you can lose that ability.

Probably more common is, you know, "What can I do with my credit card debt in the run-up to bankruptcy?" And the answer is, once you know that you're filing bankruptcy, you should not go charge up a bunch of debt onto your credit cards. You can put yourself in a position where that credit card issuer can come back and say that you shouldn't be excused from paying that debt because you ran it up on purpose, knowing that you were gonna discharge it. So, you want to avoid that.

We find that a lot of times folks have some really fact-specific questions about what they can or cannot do. I mean, I've given you some general guidelines, but if you really want to know specifically, "What can I do about this?" Or, "What can I do about that?" Then you should give us a call. We'll walk you through those options painlessly, and we'll make sure that you keep your discharging intact and stay out of trouble. And it's really quite simple, not necessarily intuitive, but give us a call and we will help you through those questions and more.

Thanks.