$Gone Fishing: The Broad Reach of Bankruptcy Depositions$
Learning the truth of a rupt debtor's finances can sometimes become a daunting task. Even if debtors don't hide their assets or conceal their transfers, the complexity of even fairly simple economic transactions frequently require a deep study of the debtor's books and records. For this reason, the federal ruptcy laws provide for the variety of methods to discover and, if necessary, expose a debtor's financial life.
First Source of Information: Debtor's Required Submissions
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The first method could be the debtor's fundamental obligation to disclose assets, liabilities, income, expenses along with other financial information within the Schedules and Statement of Financial Affairs. The schedules form the original basis into any examination of the debtor's financial condition. The schedules need to become filed with or within fifteen days of commencing the ruptcy case, but the ruptcy court will regularly grant extensions provided the schedules are filed a minimum of a couple of days prior to the regularly scheduled meeting while using trustee (also referred to as First Meeting of Creditors or 341 meeting). Typically, the Schedules and Statement of Financial Affairs offer all the information most creditors should close their files.
Meeting of Creditors: More "Free Discovery"
Creditors will contain the chance for more "free discovery" with the meeting using the trustee, in which the debtor will need to respond to your questions under oath. Because the proceedings are open on the public and often involve several cases being scheduled for examination on the same time, in chapter 7 or 13 cases the trustee may limit creditor questioning, if not move true to the end of the docket. The debtor's testimony is recorded with an electronic digital recorder and is available within an mp3 audio format.
Rule 2004 Exam: Fishing Expedition
When parties seek more comprehensive information, or when information is sought from non-debtors, the top technique is always to ask the ruptcy court for permission to consider an intensive deposition under Bankruptcy Rule 2004 (for this reason, these examinations are generally called 2004 Exams). When requesting a 2004 Exam the party seeking information may ask the Bankruptcy Court to order production of documents, testimony under oath or both.
Courts routinely issue orders authorizing highly intrusive 2004 Exams of debtors. This makes sense, because Rule 2004 itself states how the scope of the 2004 Exam "may relate only towards the acts, conduct, or property or to the liabilities and financial condition with the debtor, or any matter which may affect the administration with the debtor's estate, or to the debtor's right to your discharge." An expansive review from the debtor's financial condtion could include review with the following documents, at least:
statements for all those accounts and canceled checks; check registers; tax returns; any financial reports, profit and loss reports, cash flow reports or general ledgers; payroll records; documents evidencing any loans given or received; paystubs; accountant notes or correspondence; bank card statements; documents evidencing incorporation or any amendment with a charter or similar authority to do business being an entity; promotional materials, including brochures, flyers, websites, emails or every other item which could appear in both printed or electronic medium that was created or disseminated to aid inside promotion of the business
In question 18 from the Statement of Financial Affairs the debtor needs to disclose information associated with businesses that this debtor has owned or managed inside the six years ahead of filing the ruptcy case. As a result, an examining creditor may seek document production beginning six years prior towards the petition date.
Debtors may complain that the creditor's examination is certainly not greater than a "fishing expedition", but in truth this type of open ended inquiry is precisely the actual of the examination. Debtors frequently lose sight of the truth that this opportunity permitted from the Bankruptcy Code to restructure or discharge debt is extraordinary. Part from the price that debtors pay to the opportunity is complete, accurate and, if necessary, exhaustive disclosure. In all of the relief chapters from the Bankruptcy Code: Chapters 7, 9, 11, 12 and 13, debtors have an inherent obligation to file their cases in good faith. In chapter 7 especially, the chapter from the Bankruptcy Code that provides debtors the greatest possible relief, debtors possess a heightened obligation to supply information. Debtors, for example, cannot receive a discharge under Chapter 7 if they've "failed to spell out satisfactorily, before determination of denial of discharge under this paragraph, any loss in assets or deficiency of assets to satisfy the debtor's liabilities." This penalty applies regardless of whether the debtor has acted maliciously or fraudulently. In exchange for receiving the benefits of ruptcy debtors has to be prepared for a thorough, perhaps exhaustive, study of documents along with a deposition under oath.
The real power of the Rule 2004 Exam, however, is the proper of debtors or other parties in interest to look at non-debtors. Although these examinations are limited in scope and has to be authorized with the ruptcy judge, they provide an extraordinary chance to obtain documents and depose any person or entity that is related for the debtor. A perfect example of the power is the proper of an debtor/minority shareholder to compel manufacture of documents for the ostensible purpose of valuing the debtor's shares. Under state law, a minority shareholder might have to file a lawsuit to compel an accounting to learn information concerning the corporation. In ruptcy, on the other hand, the trustee or debtor may simply file a shorter motion using the ruptcy court to acquire all the or even more info than could be available in the state courts.
Landlords, s, charge card companies, spouses, CPAs among others with information relative to the debtor's financial condition are all susceptible to being heralded before the ruptcy court to disclose that information, even with no lawsuit pending. Under the ruptcy rules, furthermore to obtaining a court order these non-debtors has to be personally served having a subpoena as a way for that ruptcy court to obtain jurisdiction to compel the production. Failure to honor the subpoena will open the threshold for sanctions and contempt of court.
The Rule 2004 procedure puts real teeth into ruptcy court discovery. However, when there are actual contested matters, adversary proceedings or any other lawsuits pending in the ruptcy court the parties must resort towards the normal discovery rules permitted beneath the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure such as interrogatories, requests for creation of documents, requests for admission, depositions, etc. In these matters the standard scope of discovery relevance applies, which is the data may lead for the discovery of admissible evidence. This scope may coincide while using scope of your 2004 examination, but that Rule 2004 procedure just isn't available.
To Examine Or not To Examine, Which Is The Question
Filing ruptcy is usually the final in the road for many collection efforts, but creditors can't realize that for many unless they take steps to find out more in relation to its the debtor. Nobody really wants to throw good money after bad, but if there's enough money at risk and the creditor has got the means, deposing the debtor under Rule 2004 may provide a critical return on investment.
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