M&Ms and bankruptcy the unseen connection
About 30 minutes ago I was reminded of one of the key factors in making a bankruptcy successful. The reminder didn’t come in bankruptcy court, it didn’t come in my office, it didn’t come from a NACBA newsletter, this reminder came from my own freezer.
Let me give you little bit of background, about three weeks ago my wife and I went to see a movie and at that theater they had one of those supposed deals where you get popcorn, candy, and soda for an ungodly amount of money. I think it was 18 bucks total for all that good stuff. My wife is a fan of Reese’s pieces, but the theater only had peanut butter M&Ms. Me being the sensitive husband assumed that peanut butter M&Ms were just as good as Reese’s pieces, but my wife informed me otherwise, so I had a gigantic tub of popcorn and a bag of peanut butter M&Ms. I put the candies in my coat pocket and stuck them in the freezer when I got home
A couple weeks passed and from time to time I looked in the fridge only to stare at those M&M’s in the fridge, but I never grabbed them until today.
I pulled the bag of the freezer quick and M&M’s started for crashing to on the kitchen floor. Strewn across my floor were the beautiful colors of the M&M rainbow along with solid milk chocolate and some half-frozen peanut butter. I knew that the 3 second rule wasn’t going to apply as the M&M’s were broken and spread out all across the kitchen floor. I grabbed the paper towels and cleaned it up.
Disappointed, I grabbed the bag (more gently this time) and saw there were a few M&Ms left in it and I went back to the desk in my home office and started working again. So what does this have to do with bankruptcy?
Like I learned Marine ROTC proper preparation prevents piss poor performance, but proper preparation also prevents piss poor results like M&Ms all over the floor, or in the bankruptcy world of bankruptcy case being discharged without certain creditors included in the discharge.
In the bankruptcy world every attorney should be doing due diligence. For me due diligence involves pulling credit report of my client and making certain that every creditor on the credit report is included in the bankruptcy filing, so that no creditor can come out after the case is over and continue their collection efforts. For me due diligence is verifying, verifying, and then they are flying again at the information on the forms are correct before us to submit to the court. If I had verified that the M&M bag was indeed open as opposed to assuming that it was still shut, there wouldn’t be M&M’s all over my floor. If your attorney doesn’t verify that every single creditor listed on your credit report is included in your bankruptcy, that creditor will not be included in the bankruptcy and can come after you after the case is completed
If you have decided that bankruptcy is the way that you want to resolve your financial problems, make sure to ask your attorney what sort of due diligence that they use. You need to know that your attorney is going to pull your credit report and include all your creditors in the bankruptcy documents. You need to know that you are a name, not a number, your case matters, and your case is worth having your attorney double check before they submit documents to the court.
If you’re interested in talking about your financial situation feel free to call me at 484-661-2891 or e-mail me at Jim@PAdebt911.com, and we can discuss your specific situation. If you ask I’ll even have a pack of M&Ms here for you.
« Why did my Chapter 13 plan payment go up so much? | Home | Credit card bill balilout law, how do I say this nicely? »
Leave a Comment