I am filing Chapter 7 in Mississippi. I am a senior on SSA DisabiIity. My Verizon smartphone kept missing texts/emails/calls but was no longer in warranty (I did not purchase insurance). My contract was not up until 12/15. I had to buy a new smartphone but the only "contract" they would allow me to get "early" was the Verizon Edge. I upgraded to the S6 (mine was a S3). It has only been a month since the purchase/upgrade. Yes, I knew I would probably have to file (medical bills). Will I lose the phone/service? Will the remaining S6 purchase price (23 months installment) be discharged or continue as is? Can this purchase jeopardize the entire filing? Can the court deem it to be fraud? I have no other means of communication and cannot afford the upfront costs of the prepaid route.
This does not sound like it would be a problem, at least in my district. You should list the debt on the phone itself on schedule D and the phone contract on schedule G and indicate on G that you do not want the creditor noticed on the matrix and that you want to assume the lease. Verizon will not particularly care about your bk filing, they want the income stream/
Seriously, this is your only question for the volunteer lawyers? Even if you lost the phone, a better one will be coming out next week, next month, etc. Don't develop a personal relationship with your phone. Bankruptcy will allow you to assume or reject the executory contract you have with Verizon. Frankly, most of my clients can do a lot better using a prepaid phone service. Hope this perspective helps!
Robert W GambrellChapter 13 Bankruptcy AttorneyOxford, MS ·
Prior to October 17, 2005, when you filed a case the other parties in executory contract did not have to be noticed. Executory contracts included any contract in which both parties are required to do something such as a lease agreement. A contract for phone service that you must pay each month is an excutory contract.
I have never had a client lose cell phone service because he/she filed a bankruptcy even though the the cell phone service provider was notified of the bankruptcy unless my client wanted to terminate the service. You may be required to reaffirm on the purchase of the phone if Verizon's contract retains a vendor's lien.
As to your question about your actions jeopardizing the entire filing, I do not see a problem. If you wanted to discharge the debt to Verizon, technically Verizon could file an adversary proceeding objecting to the discharge of its debt, but it is very doubtful that will happen.
There are a lot of very good bankruptcy attorney's on the coast and I know most of them because until Hurricane Katrina moved me five hours north, that is where I practiced. Just make sure you tell you attorney everything so he/she will know what to do and how to help you.
