FILL-IN FORM for Filing a Consumer Case

Fill out the Questionnaire if we have asked you to do so. You must have met with Sterling Minor in person or executed an engagement agreement with the firm before we would have asked you to fill out the FILL-IN FORM. The engagement agreement is here: http://www.sterlingminor.com/Bankruptcy%20Engagement.doc (a Word document). Start by reading the material below, then by entering your social security number, which is necessary for a bankruptcy filing by an individual, and finally by clicking "Log In."

The bankruptcy law allows you to keep most types of necessary property. To receive this protection, it is necessary that you list all possible assets (items asked for in the Questionnaire): if you do not list an item, that item will not be protected for you. You must also list all your debts (everyone to whom you owe money). If you leave out one of your creditors, the debt to that creditor is not discharged. It is considered a federal crime if you intentionally give false information or leave out information. EVERYTHING of value must be listed as an asset, including such things as rights in an ongoing probate estate you think will yield you nothing, corporate stock that is worthless, a claim you have against someone else such as a relative that you do not intend to pursue. If you have any question about whether you should list certain property, or whether you should list a debt, write that question down and remember to ask me. We know this questionnaire is long. Preparing your bankruptcy papers properly takes a lot of time and a lot of information. If we work together on this, we can protect your family from great hardship and give you a new start. Fill out every question on all pages. Wherever you are given a choice of YES or NO on these forms, check either YES or NO, whichever is correct. USE CORRECT CAPITALIZATION (nor all lower case or all uppercase.)

  1. Please fill out these questions as well as you can. We will help you later with any questions you don’t understand.
  2. Wherever the name of a person or firm is asked for, give the full address. Make the address accurate. Your discharge from each debt depends upon your giving a complete and correct address.
  3. If you do not know the exact amount you owe, fill in a HIGH estimate. Do not leave the amount blank and do not say “don’t know.”
  4. List every creditor and everybody that has had anything to do with your debts, including cosigners. Please include accurate account numbers. If a bill you owe has been sent to a collection agency or any attorney, list both the person you originally owed and the collection agency or an attorney, giving the full address of each.
  5. When listing your property, at household items, the question is worded as follows:

Do you have any household goods or furnishings? 

Where is this property located?

Breakout your items as follows, and then put in the total for the items:

Do you have any household goods or furnishings?
Answer: YES

Where is this property located?
Answer: Living Room $1150

and when asked Do you have any more household goods or furnishings? make a similar list for, say, each Bedroom, Den, Playroom, etc. Each item listed is to be individually valued, but items below about $25-50, such as knicknacks, need not be listed. Clothing items are to be listed in the same way as above, by person.

As a value, use what an actual armslength sale of the item to a customer, not a dealer, would bring. This is well less than you paid, but more than a garage sale value. When looking up an automobile in the Blue Book, it therefore is to be valued at retail (what a dealer would sell it to you for) rather than wholesale (what you would sell it for to a dealer.)