Debtors And Bankruptcy Privacy

What if your judgment was against a "rich" debtor having a pattern of going from rented place to rented place, paying the minimum to live there, and then staying rent free until they get forced out with evictions? (This doesn't occur very often these days, in the era of credit reports and landlord associations, however a wad of cash up-front, can blind many landlords.)

What if you discovered where your debtor worked, garnished their wages, and then you got a notice from a US Bankruptcy Court, that your debtor has filed for Chapter seven bankruptcy?

When you received the notice of bankruptcy, you must quickly tell the Sheriff to stop their wage garnishment. Once someone files for bankruptcy protection, you shouldn't attempt to collect money from them without getting leave from a bankruptcy court.

When your judgment debtor files for bankruptcy protection, is it over, and the judgment is now history? If the debtor is actually poor, yes. If your debtor is not poor, a crook, and hiding their assets; and you have the ability to spend a lot of hours inside and outside of a bankruptcy court, maybe not.

When you have nothing more important to do, you can examine crooked judgment debtors in bankruptcy court, even for small judgments. When you are busy, it makes sense only with judgments averaging $15,000 or more. If your debtor is actually broke, let this go, do not waste time attempting to squeeze juice from rocks.

To bring a judgment debtor's perjury and fraud to the attention of a bankruptcy court, requires starting an adversarial claim. When you are not a lawyer, you better know what you're doing, or even better, retain a bankruptcy lawyer. When you retain a lawyer, don't stop thinking, keep thinking about what will help win your motion, and give your ideas to your lawyer. Do not assume your attorney knows everything you know.

You might think the judgment debtor's history of defrauding property owners could be the basis for a fraud complaint in the bankruptcy court. I'm not a lawyer, and my opinion is that if the debtor defrauded someone else, you'll have a difficult time claiming fraud in the bankruptcy court; as you were not a party to the cause of action, and not personally defrauded by the judgment debtor.

However, if you were the debtor's landlord, you may have a possible cause of action for rental fraud, stemming from the original debt under USC 523(a)(2)(b). To win that kind of motion, you'll have to show some proof to the court.

To win a motion under USC 523(a)(2)(b), you would need to prove that the fraud was intentional, and that your debtor willfully and knowingly gave you false information. Some items of evidence could be a rental agreement signed by the debtor, with false documents about their financials.

If the debtor's misrepresentations were oral, maybe you could prove fraud under USC 523(a)(2)(a), however proving this is often much more difficult.

The first task in proving fraud in court is investigation. There is more than one paths available for the creditors of bankrupt judgment debtors. If debtors file for bankruptcy protection, their financial privacy goes out the window.

The way to win a bankruptcy complaint for fraud, is ample discovery and solid evidence proving fraud. The first step is to ask the attorney representing the bankrupt judgment debtor for the judgment debtor's disclosures and filing information, liability and asset statements, and itemized listings of their monthly living expenses.

One way to go, is to request copies of the debtor's tax returns at least two weeks before the first scheduled meeting of creditors. You could ask for five years of federal and state tax returns, or the tax returns a few years before and after their fraud happened.

Depending on what responses you get, you might choose to motion the court for a rule 2004 examination of your judgment debtor and perhaps a few other 3rd parties, possibly right after, or perhaps before the first creditor's meeting.

When you have a dishonest judgment debtor, they commonly try to stonewall and hide information from creditors. When the debtor files for bankruptcy protection, creditors are entitled to get their financial information, so that one may comprehensively analyze the debtor's real situation.

If you are cut-off from doing your investigation in bankruptcy court due to interference bythe debtor, then you may have a cause of action for an adversary proceeding under USC 727, that costs about 300 dollars to file.

Bankruptcy court can be like "heaven" for creditors with time, patience, and knowledge. Bankruptcy courts aren't perfect, and most won't allow mortals (non-attorneys) pay by check.

Bankruptcy courts are often more comfortable and spacious than state courts. Many motions and filings (except motions for relief and adversarial proceedings) have no filing fees. Cafeterias at bankruptcy courts are often good and reasonably priced.

You might be able to get the debtor tossed out of bankruptcy court for either not providing you with their tax returns you asked for, or possibly for bad faith filing because of not complying with a court order to bring in documents for a rule 2004 exam.

Depending on the size of your judgment, you might conclude it's just not worth filing an adversary proceeding. You may also discover that the judgment debtor really does deserve to file for bankruptcy protection because they provided you all the documentation you requested, and you found no evidence of fraud or deceit.

http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - Judgment Enforcement - the easiest, fastest, and best way to get the most money for a judgment. Mark Shapiro, the expert on judgments. We pay for leads, and offer the best no obligation free leads for enforcers, collection agencies, and contingency collection lawyers.

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