Client Duties and General Information 1. Identification, Social Security Number, Pay Stu: Please provide my office with your current driver's license, your social security card, and a copy of your most recent pay stub. We require the first two items to help curb identity theft and fraud. Ifyou and your spouse are filing, both of you must be present when you present the documents to my office. You musi also bring these documents with ‘you to the 341 hearing of the creditors. Without them, your ease may be delayed and eventually dismissed. We need the pay stub so that we can attach it to your bankruptcy schedules. 2, Lien Search: Separate and distinet from whether ‘your debis are discharged, security interests and liens against your property will survive the ‘bankruptcy unless an order is entered otherwise. Lawsuits filed against you and which proceed to judgment before your bankruptcy case is filed may hhave created a security interest against your property. Therefore, please make sure that we know about all of your mortgages and other ‘voluntary security interests and all ofthe judgments entered against you. These matters must be addressed during the bankruptcy case. Often, obtaining a lien search through a title insurance company is worth the expense, because it reveals judgments or liens that can be avoided or extinguished during the bankruptcy case. If you do choose to get a lien search please present it to my office as soon as possible so that we will have time to address the issues during the case. It is best if the search is obtained after filing (so that all liens present as of the fing date are noted) and then ‘given to us no later than one week after the case is filed. ‘Many people can do a lien search for you. Ido not recommend or endorse the following entities, ‘a. NEPa Data Search 1541 Penn Ave Scranton 343-4342, $35.00 3. Tax Transcript: Sometimes, the LR.S. believes that you owe taxes of which you may be unaware. Sometimes, these taxes can be avoided during the bankruptcy case. The LR.S. will provide free pts that explain what they believe you owe. ‘You can obtain these transcripts by going to the LR'S. office and asking for the MFTRA-X and the IMFOL-T for each ofthe past 5 years. They require ‘wo forms of identification and are open from 8- 4:30 except on Wednesday when they open at 8:30. ‘They are located in Scranton at 409 Lackawanna ‘Avenue, Suite 600 or in Wilkes-Barre at 7 North Wilkes-Barre Blvd. If you choose to do this, you should provide my office with the transcripts when ‘you retum the questionnaire. 4, Credit Report: If you fil to list a debt that you ‘owe, you might still owe it after the bankruptcy. Credit reports sometimes reveal debts you may have forgotten. There are three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax (800-997-2493), Experian (888.EXPERIAN), and Transunion (800-888-4213). 5. Monthly Statements May Stop: Many creditors, especially car finance companies and home ‘mortgage companies may stop mailing you monthly statements of the amounts that you owe thom. If this happens, if you have elected to retain the collateral that was being financed, you are obligated to continue making the payments on time. If you forget, you can lose the collateral. Please mark ‘your calendar and remember to make all payments, ‘even if the statements don’t come, 6. Other Debts: Credit reports don’t list all debts. If you aren't behind on your payment of a deb it might not be listed. Also, not all creditors (especially smaller companies or individuals) use credit reporting agencies. The only way for these debts to make it on your petition is for you to ‘remember them. You need to remember ALL debis that you owe or mi day. (cg. Ifyou ‘were recently in a minor car accident and haven't yet been sued, you might someday owe a judgment inthat lawsuit. But, if you remember it and list it, your liability would ordinarily be discharged.) 7. Disclose: You must completely disclose your financial condition, You will sign the petition, statement of financial affairs and many other documents under penalty of perjury. Inaccurate information can result in court sanctions including XY Sober if filing bintlyClient Duties and General Information (cont.) dismissal of the case or jail time, Furthermore, if ‘you lose the discharge, the Trustee can still take the ‘assets and distribute them to creditors. Then you have the negative effeets of bankruptcy without the benefit. ‘Also, you mus file supplemental schedules with the court if within 180 days after the filing ofthe petition, you become entitled to acquire property (a) by bequest, devise or inheritance, (b) as a result of a divorce ot property settlement agreement with your spouse, of (c) as @ beneficiary of a life insurance policy or death benefit plan. 8. Reaffinmation Agreements: Some creditors may request that you “reaffirm” a debt. In exchange, they often offer new credit or continue sending you monthly statements, However, reaffirmation is almost always a bad idea because it makes you personally responsible for a debt that would. otherwise be eliminated, I strongly suggest that, unless I advise you otherwise, you decline to reaffirm any debt. Thus, I will discard upon receipt ‘any reaffirmation agreement that my office receives from a creditor. If you do not wish me to do this, please cross out this entire paragraph and I will forward those reaffirmation agreements to you. 9. Current Information: If you move, change phone numbers, or change employment at any time before your case is closed, you must provide me ‘with your new information. If I cannot get in touch with you, your case may suffer. 10. Credit Cards: Stop using them! Debts that you incur once you are considering filing bankruptcy are usually not dischargeable and can potentially threaten your entire case. Now that you have consulted with a bankruptcy attomey, the court may presume that you never intended to repay any credit card debt you incur between now and the filing. 11, Bill Collectors: Once you returned the signed agreement and paid your intial retainer fee, you are entitled to tell any person attempting to collect a debt to contact your attomey. Don't talk to them. Just politely tell them to call me and hang up. If they continue to contact you after you have told them this, cll my office. 12, Utility Deposits: If you discharge a bill to a utility, they have the right to a deposit to ensure payment on future services. This deposit must be ‘paid shortly after the filing ofthe case or your service may be affected. But, if you file a chapter 13, this deposit might be provided for in the plan. 13. New Debt: For the duration of a Chapter 13, ‘you are not permitted to incur new debt without permission from the Trustee. 14, Privacy Policy Notice: Attomeys, like other professionals who advise on personal financial ‘matters, are now required by a new federal law to inform their clients of their policies regarding privacy of client information. Attomeys have been ‘and continue to be bound by professional standards ‘of confidentiality that are even more stringent than those required by this new law. Therefore, we have always protected your right to privacy. Inthe course of providing our clients with bankruptcy advice, we receive significant personal financial information from our clients. If you are a client of the Law Office of Carlo Sabatini, you should know that all information that we receive from you is held in confidence, and is not released 10 people outside the firm, except as agreed to by you, of as required under an applicable law. We retain records relating to professional services that we provide so that we are better able to assist you with your professional needs and in, some cases, to comply with professional guidelines. In order to guard your nonpublic electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply ‘with our professional standards. EG \ = ‘Co-Debtor Ny