What bankruptcy attorneys collect from clients before filing
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In short
Consumer bankruptcy attorneys collect pay stubs, bank statements, recent tax returns, W-2s, credit card and mortgage statements, a photo ID and Social Security card from each Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 client. Requests go out after the first meeting, since the means test and schedules depend on them. The friction: missing months of pay stubs, partial statements, and clients who go quiet.
Bankruptcy attorneys
A bankruptcy petition lists every debt, asset and source of income, and the trustee usually expects documents behind each line. The attorney asks for several months of pay stubs and bank statements, recent tax returns and statements for every debt and secured loan, often in one long first request.
Clients under financial stress often avoid their mail, so statements go missing or unopened, and a long list can feel heavy. Files stall on gaps: a missing month of income, a statement without all its pages, or an account the client forgot. Asking for one document at a time keeps the case moving toward filing.
Request guides
- Pay stub
- Bank statement
- Prior-year tax return
- W-2
- Credit card statement
- Mortgage statement
- Driver’s license
More guides are published every day.
Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.
- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not the requested document or an unreadable or blurry scan. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.