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and your creditors would get $20,000, less the costs of sale. But if there were an unknown lien on the property for $20,000, then you wouldn’t have to lose the house, because there would be nothing left over for the unsecured creditors. so it’s to your benefit to get this information any way you can.
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Item 11: although an education ira and a qualified state tuition plan may technically not be part of the bankruptcy estate, list them here anyway. also, you are required to file any records you have of these interests as an attachment to schedule B.
Item 12: although erisa-qualified pension plans, iras, and Keoghs may not be part of your bankruptcy estate, list them here anyway and describe each plan in detail. in the Current Value column, enter the value of the pension, if known.
Item 13: include stock options.
Item 16: if you are a sole proprietor or independent contractor, you likely will be owed money by one or more of your customers. specify each such debt by customer name, the reason for the debt, and the date the debt was incurred. these debts belong to your bankruptcy estate and may be collected by the trustee unless you are able to claim them as exempt.
Item 17: list all child support or alimony arrears—
that is, money that should have been paid to you but hasn’t been. specify the dates the payments were due and missed, such as “$250 monthly child support payments for june, july, august, and september 20xx.” also list any debts owed you from a property settlement incurred in a divorce or dissolution.
Item 18: list all money owed to you and not yet paid, other than child support, alimony, and property settlements. if you’ve obtained a judgment against someone, but haven’t been paid, list it here. state the defendant’s name, the date of the judgment, the court that issued the judgment, the amount of the judgment, and the kind of case (such as “car accident”).
Item 19: an “equitable or future interest” means that sooner or later you will get property that is currently owned by someone else. your expectation is legally recognized and valuable. For instance, if your parents’
trust gives them the right to live in the family home, that’s a “life estate.” if the trust gives you the home when they die, you have an “equitable interest” in the home while they’re alive. “Powers exercisable for the benefit of the debtor” means that a person has been given the power to route property your way, but it hasn’t happened by the time you file your bankruptcy petition. in sum, if it looks like property is coming your way eventually, and that property hasn’t been listed in schedule a, list it here.
Item 20: you have a contingent interest in property if, for example, you are named the remainder
beneficiary of an irrevocable trust (a trust that can’t be undone by the person who created it). it’s contingent because you may or may not get anything from the trust—it all depends on whether there’s anything left by the time it gets to you. a noncontingent interest means you will get the property sooner or later, for example, under the terms of an insurance policy. also list here any wills or revocable living trusts where you are named as a beneficiary. even though you don’t have any right to inherit under these documents (they can be changed at any time prior to the person’s death), the trustee wants to know this information because the inheritance becomes part of your bankruptcy estate if the person dies within the six-month period following your bankruptcy filing date.
Item 21: list all claims that you have against others that might end up in a lawsuit. For instance, if you were recently rear-ended in an automobile accident and are struggling with whiplash, you may have a cause of action against the other driver (and that driver’s insurer). Failure to list this type of claim here can result in your inability to pursue it after bankruptcy.
Item 22: this question asks about assets commonly known as intellectual property. state what the patent, copyright, trademark, or the like is for. give the number assigned by the issuing agency and length of time the patent, copyright, trademark, or other right will last. Keep in mind that both copyright and trademark rights may exist without going through a government agency. if you claim trademark rights through usage, or copyright through the fact that you created the item and reduced it to tangible form, describe them here.
Item 23: list all licenses and franchises, what they cover, the length of time remaining, who they are with, and whether you can transfer them to someone else.
Item 24: describe customer lists or other compila- tions containing personally identifiable information that you obtained from people as part of providing them with consumer goods or services.
Items 25-27: include the make, model, and year of each item.
Item 32: For your crops, list whether they’ve been harvested, whether they’ve been sold (and, if so, to whom and for how much), whether you’ve taken out
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any loan against them, and whether they are insured.
Husband, Wife, Joint, or Community. if you’re not married, put “n/a” at the top of the column.
if you are married and live in a community property state, then property acquired during the marriage is community property and you should put “C” in this column. gifts and inheritances received by one spouse are separate property, as is property a spouse owned prior to marriage or after separation. identify this property with an “h” (for husband) or “w” (for wife), as appropriate.
if you live in any state that is not a community property state, write “j” if you own the property jointly with a spouse, and “h” or “w” if a spouse owns that property as an individual.
Current Value of Debtor’s Interest in Property, Without Deducting any Secured Claim or Exemption. you can take the information requested here from the Property exemption worksheet in Ch. 3. list the replacement value of the property, without regard to any secured interests or exemptions. For example, if you own a car with a replacement value of $6,000, you still owe
$4,000 on the car note, and your state’s motor vehicle exemption is $1,200, put down $6,000 for the market value of the car.
Total. add the amounts in this column and put the total in the box at the bottom of the last page. if you used any continuation pages in addition to the preprinted form, remember to attach those pages and include the amounts from those pages in this total.