1) Do not give away, trade-in, or sell ANYTHING (including real estate, jewelry, cars, money, and other personal belongings) before or during the pendency of your bankruptcy case. Such actions may be seen by the trustee as a fraudulent transfer of assets prior to filing bankruptcy. Additionally, transferring assets without the trustee's permission during your bankruptcy is not allowed because your assets are then technically owned by the bankruptcy estate and do not fully belong to you.

2) Do not run up any new debt prior to filing bankruptcy! Running up new debt when you know that you will be filing bankruptcy is fraudulent. Debts incurred fraudulently cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, can cause your entire case to be thrown out, and can even lead to criminal charges.

3) Large payments to any unsecured creditors prior to filing bankruptcy can be considered a preferential payment, and is not allowed.  This is particularly true if the creditor is a family member or a business associate. Therefore, the only creditors that you should continue to pay, both before and after filing bankruptcy, are secured creditors (car payments and mortgage payments, for example). You must keep paying these secured creditors if you want to be able to keep those assets.

It is imperative that you make your payments to secured creditors ON TIME after filing bankruptcy. AUTOMATIC DEBITS MAY BE STOPPED, MAKE SURE YOU WATCH YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT. This is far and away the most common cause for complications in bankruptcy cases. If you get behind on a secured payment after filing bankruptcy, that creditor has may make a successful motion to vacate the automatic stay and take the asset away from you.

We strongly suggest that you make your payments to your secured creditors by money order or bank check (they cannot bounce) for at least six months after your bankruptcy case is filed, and that you send it by certified or registered mail, return-receipt requested, so that you have proof of when they received it. Additionally, you must get it to them before the originally scheduled due date, not the later date given in the grace period.

4) it is your responsibility to provide us with a complete list of creditors with correct addresses so that they receive proper notice of the bankruptcy. If a creditor does not receive proper notice of your bankruptcy because you provided us with incomplete or inaccurate information (or left them out altogether), that creditor may attempt to enforce their claim against you later on, even if you receive a discharge from the court on all your other debts.