When it comes to interacting with your bankruptcy trustee you must remember that they are responsible for making sure that the creditors are paid as much as possible within the letter of the bankruptcy law.
That said there a few things you should never say to a bankruptcy trustee:
- A debtor should never tell their bankruptcy trustee that they quit their job so that the creditors would not be able to seize their money via a wage garnishment . We’re not saying to lie to their bankruptcy trustee, what we are saying is to not be careless in how you explain why you quit your job. Most likely you did not just simply quit your job because you wanted to avoid a wage garnishment; you probably quit your job because it was not paying you enough to support yourself and your dependants. And yes a wage garnishment could in fact make it impossible for you to earn enough to support yourself. But saying you quit simply because of the wage garnishment could give the bankruptcy trustee the impression that you were attempting to avoid paying your creditors.
- A debtor’s should never tell their bankruptcy trustee that they spent money before filing bankruptcy because they didn’t want their creditors to get it. If a debtor purposefully spends money before bankruptcy in an attempt to keep it away from their creditors that could be grounds for a denial of their bankruptcy discharge. The truth of the matter is that most debtors don’t spend money simply because they don’t want it going to creditors; they spend it because they have to. A debtor may have spent money to catch up on their mortgage because if they didn’t they would be evicted or they spent money on food because otherwise their family would go hungry.
Section 727(a)(2) of the bankruptcy code, which reads:
The court shall grant the debtor a discharge, unless … the debtor, with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor or an officer of the estate charged with custody of property under this title, has transferred, removed, destroyed, mutilated, or concealed, or has permitted to be transferred, removed, destroyed, mutilated, or concealed … property of the debtor, within one year before the date of the filing of the petition….
A qualified bankruptcy attorney can further explain what should and should not be said to a bankruptcy trustee.