Everyone filing for bankruptcy has the goal of seeing the bankruptcy discharge in the mail, whether they are filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This discharge allows the individual to know that their debt is completely wiped out and creditors no longer can come after them in the future. There is one caveat in that not every person filing bankruptcy gets a discharge. For some that don’t play by the rules or just make stupid mistakes they can have their bankruptcy filing dismissed.
For some, they will get a bankruptcy dismissal without prejudice meaning they can file again at any time. Usually, this is because the person failed to provide all of their documentation required by the bankruptcy court. Sometimes the person won’t provide copies of their back taxes or pay stubs. Some misplace or leave out a page of the bankruptcy petition. For the bankruptcy filing to move forward, all documents must be submitted to the bankruptcy court to be forwarded to the trustee. The bankruptcy court will mail out a letter to the individual filing bankruptcy explaining the missing document with an amount of time they have to turn it in. If they don’t, the bankruptcy will be dismissed. One other thing many people have forgotten was to take the post bankruptcy financial management course and submit the completion certificate to the bankruptcy court. Some of them take the course and fail to submit the proper documentation which causes their bankruptcy to be dismissed before the bankruptcy discharge. This is just foolish after going through all the hassles of the entire process and forgetting to submit one small thing.
Another thing that can cause a dismissal of a bankruptcy filing is not submitting all the documentation that the bankruptcy trustee will ask for. When necessary the trustee will ask the individual filing at the meeting of the creditors were 341 meeting to submit additional information. Sometimes, a bankruptcy trustee will ask for additional documentation or proof of someone’s employment or maybe property. If the person fails to submit it, they will have a deficiency notice sent out for their bankruptcy filing that gives the individual a certain timeframe to reply with the documentation needed. If the person doesn’t send this in, their bankruptcy will be dismissed. That’s why the bankruptcy attorney will usually tell their client to make sure and open everything the bankruptcy court might send them.
Many of these mistakes are avoided when the client has a bankruptcy attorney that they have a great relationship with. If the individual get something in the mail they can call the attorney and ask how to proceed. Or if something is missing that the filer needs to provide, the attorney or their staff will call before it becomes a problem. This is an available to those that file a do-it-yourself bankruptcy and this is why many of them will have a stack of problems to deal with if they are to get their bankruptcy discharge.