Why You Don’t Hide Assets
Intentional or not, some people that start that bankruptcy process try to hide assets. This is usually done based on the belief that if you don’t tell anyone about it they won’t find it. That is a flawed assumption for many reasons which we will get into another time, but for now let’s focus on the bottom line. Are you really protecting your assets or risking assets when you attempt to hide something?
Myth – you have to lose all of your property in bankruptcy.
Fact – you only lose your non-exempt property through the bankruptcy process.
The first rule of preserving property with an exemption is that your Woodlands Bankruptcy Attorney has to know it exists. If your bankruptcy attorney does not about a specific piece of property and does not set aside an exemption for it then you risk losing it to the bankruptcy trustee. Clearly this is not the result most people intend which is why it is absolutely critical that you tell your bankruptcy attorney everything that you own.
Many of the people I represent through the bankruptcy process can keep all of their property with strategic use of their bankruptcy property exemptions. Anything they do not tell me about at the outset may be impossible to protect later on. This is why you do not attempt to hide assets.
