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each exemption, if you are both filing. if your state’s chart in appendix 1 doesn’t say your state forbids doubling, go ahead and double. you are entitled to double all federal exemptions, if you use them.
if you are using part or all of a wildcard exemption, in addition to a regular exemption, list both amounts.
For example, if the regular exemption for an item of furniture is $200, and you plan to exempt it to $500 using $300 from your state’s wildcard exemption, list
$200 across from the citation you listed for the regular exemption and $300 across from the citation you listed for the wildcard exemption (or across from the term
“wildcard”).
Don’t claim more than you need for any particular item. For instance, if you’re allowed household furniture up to a total amount of $2,000, don’t inflate the value of each item of furniture simply to get to $2,000. Use the values you stated on Schedule B.
Current Value of Property Without Deducting
Exemption. enter the current (replacement) value of the item you are claiming as exempt. For most items, this information is listed on schedules a and B. however, if you listed the item as part of a group in schedule B, list it separately here and assign it a separate replacement value.
Schedule D—Creditors Holding
if, after typing up your final papers, you discover that you’ve missed a few creditors, don’t retype your papers to preserve perfect alphabetical order. simply add the creditors at the end. if your creditors don’t all fit on the first page of schedule d, make as many copies of the preprinted continuation page as you need to list them all.
Codebtor. someone who owes money with you probably isn’t the first person you think of as your creditor. But if someone else agreed to cosign your loan, lease, or purchase, then creditors can go after your codebtor, who will then look to you to cough up the money. so, if someone else (other than a spouse with whom you are filing jointly) can be legally forced to pay your debt to a listed secured creditor, enter an “X” in this column and list the codebtor in the creditor column of this schedule. you’ll also need to list the codebtor as a creditor in schedules e, F, and h (explained below).
the most common codebtors are:
• cosigners
• guarantors (people who guarantee payment of a loan)
• ex-spouses with whom you jointly incurred debts before divorcing
• joint owners of real estate or other property
• coparties in a lawsuit
• nonfiling spouses in a community property state (most debts incurred by a nonfiling spouse during marriage are considered community debts, making that spouse equally liable with the filing spouse for the debts), and
• nonfiling spouses in states other than community property states, for debts incurred by the filing spouse for basic living necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, and utilities.
Husband, Wife, Joint, or Community. Follow the instructions for schedule a.
Date Claim Was Incurred, Nature of Lien, and Description and Value of Property Subject to Lien. this column calls for a lot of information for each secured debt. if you list two or more creditors on the same secured claim (such as the lender and a collection agency), simply put ditto marks (") in this column for the second creditor. let’s take these one at a time.
Date Claim Was Incurred. For most claims, the date the claim was incurred is the date you signed
the security agreement. if you didn’t sign a security agreement with the creditor, the date is most likely the date a contractor or judgment creditor recorded a lien against your property or the date a taxing authority notified you of a tax liability or assessment of taxes due.
Nature of Lien. what kind of property interest does your secured creditor have? here are the possible answers:
• First mortgage. you took out a loan to buy your house. (this kind of lien is a specific kind of purchase-money security interest.)
• Purchase-money security interest. you took out a loan to purchase the property that secures the loan—for example, a car note. the creditor must have perfected the security interest by filing or recording it with the appropriate agency within 20 days. (Fidelity Financial Services, Inc. v. Fink, 522 u.s. 211 (1998).) otherwise, the creditor has no lien and you should list the debt on schedule F (unsecured debt) instead.
• Nonpossessory, nonpurchase-money security interest. you borrowed money for a purpose other than buying the collateral. this includes refinanced home loans, home equity loans, or loans from finance companies.
• Possessory, nonpurchase-money security interest.
this is what a pawnshop owner has when you pawn your property.
• Judgment lien. this means someone sued you, won a court judgment, and recorded a lien against your property.
• Tax lien. this means a federal, state, or local government agency recorded a lien against your property for unpaid taxes.
• Child support lien. this means that another parent or government agency has recorded a lien against your property for unpaid child support.
• Mechanics’ or materialmen’s lien. this means someone performed work on your real property or personal property (for example, a car) but didn’t get paid, and recorded a lien on that property. such liens can be an unpleasant surprise if you paid for the work, but your contractor didn’t pay a subcontractor who got a lien against your property.
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• Unknown. if you don’t know what kind of lien you are dealing with, put “don’t know nature of lien” after the date. the bankruptcy trustee can help you figure it out later.
Description of Property. describe each item of real estate and personal property that is collateral for the secured debt listed in the first column. use the same description you used on schedule a for real property or schedule B for personal property. if a creditor’s lien covers several items of property, list all items affected by the lien.
Value of Property. the amount you put here must jibe with what you listed on schedule a or B. if you put only the total value of a group of items on schedule B, you must now get more specific. For instance, if a department store has a secured claim against your washing machine, and you listed your “washer/dryer set” on schedule B, now you must provide the washer’s specific market value. you may have already done this on the Property exemption worksheet. if not, see the instructions for “Current Value” on schedule B.
Contingent, Unliquidated, Disputed. indicate whether the creditor’s secured claim is contingent, unliquidated, or disputed. Check all categories that apply. if you’re uncertain of which to choose, check the one that seems closest. if none apply, leave them blank. Briefly, these terms mean:
• Contingent. the claim depends on some event that hasn’t yet occurred and may never occur.
For example, if you cosigned a secured loan, you won’t be liable unless the principal debtor defaults. your liability as cosigner is contingent upon the default.
• Unliquidated. this means that a debt may exist, but the exact amount hasn’t been determined. For example, say you’ve sued someone for injuries you suffered in an auto accident, but the case isn’t over. your lawyer has taken the case under a contingency fee agreement—he’ll get a third of the recovery if you win, and nothing if you lose—
and has a security interest in the final recovery amount. the debt to the lawyer is unliquidated because you don’t know how much, if anything, you’ll win.
• Disputed. a claim is disputed if you and the credi- tor do not agree about the existence or amount of the debt. For instance, suppose the irs says you
owe $10,000 and has put a lien on your property, and you say you owe $500. list the full amount of the lien, not the amount you think you owe.
You’re not admitting you owe the debt. You may think you don’t really owe a contingent, unliqui- dated, or disputed debt, or you may not want to “admit”
that you owe the debt. By listing a debt here, however, you aren’t admitting anything. Instead, you are making sure that, if you owe the debt after all, it will be discharged in your bankruptcy (if it is dischargeable; see Ch. 9).
Amount of Claim Without Deducting Value of
Collateral. For each secured creditor, list the amount it would take to pay off the secured claim, regardless of what the property is worth. the lender can give you this figure. in some cases, the amount of the secured claim may be more than the property’s value.
ExAMPLE: your original loan was for $13,000, plus
$7,000 in interest (for $20,000 total). you’ve made enough payments so that $15,000 will cancel the debt. you would put $15,000 in this column.
if you have more than one creditor for a given secured claim (for example, the lender and a collection agency), list the debt only for the lender and put ditto marks (") for each subsequent creditor.
Subtotal/Total. total the amounts in the “amount of Claim” and “unsecured Portions” columns for each page. do not include the amounts represented by the ditto marks if you listed multiple creditors for a single debt. on the final page of schedule d, which may be the first page or a preprinted continuation page, enter the total of all secured claims, and unsecured portions.
Unsecured Portion, If Any. if the replacement value of the collateral is equal to or greater than the amount of the claim, enter “0,” meaning that the creditor’s claim is fully secured. if the replacement value of the collateral is less than the amount of the claim(s) listed, enter the difference here.
ExAMPLE: if the current value of your car is $5,000 but you still owe $6,000 on your car loan, enter
$1,000 in this column ($6,000 – $5,000). this is the amount of the loan that is unsecured by the collateral (your car).
if you list an amount in this column for a creditor,
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do not list this amount again on schedule F (where you will list all other creditors with unsecured claims).
otherwise, this unsecured amount will be listed twice.