A couple of events made the news in the last week or so that are relevant to Bankruptcy or financial matters. In this prior post, we discussed the mostly made-up story about the man who was supposedly arrested just because he was late on his student loans. Another story that did not get as much attention was about rapper Curtis Jackson, more commonly known as 50 Cent. It seems that 50 had financial difficulties and filed a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition in July 2015 (which does not mean you should). After apparently representing in the case he was short on cash, 50 posted the picture to the right, and several others showing a lot of cash, on his Instagram account. This came to the attention of the Judge, who hauled 50 into court for an explanation. The story apparently continues, as 50 posted more pictures of stacks of cash after the hearing. You might not have stacks of cash, or street cred to maintain, but you might wonder if anyone will be browsing your social media accounts to see what property you have or where you are going on vacation? Maybe…
When a Bankruptcy case is filed, you complete a set of schedules listing the assets you own. If it is a Chapter 7 case, the Chapter 7 Trustee might look a little further into your assets. It is certainly possible they browse social media accounts, but usually they will only take the time to do that if they think there is a reason to do so. Who is most likely going to monitor your social media accounts and alert the Trustee or Judge? Your creditors! Specifically, your creditors who have a special interest in your case — former spouses, ex-girlfriends or boyfriends, former business partners, or even family members. Those are the people who have the time and the personal vendettas to monitor your posts to see if you are at the lake in a boat, wearing expensive jewelry, taking expensive trips, and so on. Rarely do these reports (and “tattling”) lead to anything, but there is one sure way of avoiding problems – be honest in your Bankruptcy case!