The schedules say one thing. Asset searches for bankruptcy trustees and creditors.

Q: What do you check the schedules against?

Schedule A/B against the recorder, assessor and Department of Licensing; the statement of financial affairs against the Secretary of State, recorder and UCC index for transfers, insider payments, businesses and prior addresses; income against employment and entities; the creditor list against recorded liens; and, in Washington, the spouse's holdings, since community property comes into the estate. The product is a line-by-line reconciliation with the instrument behind each discrepancy.

Q: What turns up most often?

Unlisted entity interests, pre-petition transfers to family, real property scheduled below assessor value, cryptocurrency, inheritances and insurance payouts arriving within six months of the petition, pending injury or employment claims, and out-of-state property. Most of it is unlisted because nobody looked.

Q: What do creditors' counsel use this for?

An objection to discharge for concealed assets or false schedules, and a nondischargeability complaint for fraud, both due within sixty days of the first date set for the meeting of creditors. Both turn on the Rule 2004 examination, which we build from the record so every question has an exhibit behind it.

Q: What are the deadlines?

Discharge objections and fraud complaints fall sixty days after the first scheduled meeting of creditors. Trustee avoidance actions generally must be brought within two years of the order for relief, reaching back two years under the Bankruptcy Code and up to four under Washington's voidable transactions act. Counsel holds the precise dates; the practical deadline is the earliest one.

Q: How do you work with a trustee's office?

Scoped to the estate: a short look and a one-page memo for a no-asset case with one suspicious transfer; the full reconciliation, entity chart, interviews and declaration for an estate with a business, property in several counties and a spouse on title. Fixed fee per stage, quoted first, written for the use it will be put to. Concealed-asset and fraudulent-transfer work for trustees and creditors' counsel in the Western District of Washington since 2016.

Bankruptcy

The estate is what the debtor owns, not what the debtor listed.

A Chapter 7 trustee gets a set of schedules sworn under penalty of perjury, a meeting of creditors, and a short time to decide whether there is anything to administer. Creditors' counsel gets sixty days from that meeting to object to the discharge. Both go better with the schedules read against the public record than with the schedules alone, and in Washington the record is unusually willing to talk.

What do you check the schedules against?

Every line that can be tested. Schedule A/B against the county recorder, the assessor and the Department of Licensing, for the parcel, the vehicle and the boat that were left off or valued at a number nobody would sell for. The statement of financial affairs against the record: the transfers within two years, the payments to insiders within one, the businesses within four, and the prior addresses, each of which the Secretary of State, the recorder and the UCC index remember better than the debtor does. Income against employment and the entities the debtor governs. The creditor list against the liens actually recorded, which shows who was paid and who was not. And, in Washington, the spouse: community property comes into the estate, so a house, a business or a brokerage account in the other spouse's name is not outside the case because the debtor filed alone. The product is a line-by-line reconciliation, with the instrument behind each discrepancy.

What turns up most often?

Entity interests, first: the LLC the debtor governs but did not list, which owns the truck, the equipment or the lease. Pre-petition transfers to family, usually a quitclaim deed or a vehicle title, at a price the excise tax affidavit calls a gift. Real property scheduled at a value well under the assessor's, which is itself usually under the market. Cryptocurrency, which does not appear on the schedules because the debtor did not think of it as money, and which an exchange will confirm on request. An inheritance or a life-insurance payout that arrives within six months of the petition and belongs to the estate. A personal-injury or employment claim the debtor is pursuing in another court. A second residence out of state, found through the recorders the debtor assumed nobody would check. Most of it is not sophisticated. It is unlisted because nobody looked.

What do creditors' counsel use this for?

Two things, on a clock. An objection to the discharge for concealed assets or false schedules, which has to be filed within sixty days of the first date set for the meeting of creditors. And a complaint that a particular debt is not dischargeable because it was incurred by fraud, on the same deadline. Both need facts that are not in the file, and both are decided by the quality of the Rule 2004 examination. We build that examination the way we build a judgment debtor exam: from the record, so every question has an exhibit behind it. A creditor who walks into the 341 meeting holding the deed the debtor forgot to mention has a different meeting.

What are the deadlines?

The ones that shape the work are short and fixed, and your lawyer or the trustee's counsel will hold the precise dates. The discharge objection and the fraud nondischargeability complaint fall sixty days after the first scheduled meeting of creditors. The trustee's avoidance actions, for fraudulent and preferential transfers, generally have to be brought within two years of the order for relief, reaching back two years before the petition under the Bankruptcy Code and up to four under Washington's voidable transactions act, which has its own guide. The practical deadline is the earliest one: a search that finishes after the objection window closes is a search for the next case.

How do you work with a trustee's office?

To the size of the estate. A no-asset case with one suspicious transfer gets a two-day look at the record and a one-page memo that says whether it is worth more. An estate with a business, real property in three counties and a spouse who kept the title gets the full reconciliation, the entity chart, the interviews with the former partner and the bookkeeper, and a declaration for the adversary proceeding. We quote a fixed fee for each stage before starting it, write for the use the work will be put to, and understand that retention and payment run through the court. Since 2016 we have worked concealed-asset and fraudulent-transfer matters for trustees and creditors' counsel.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines under the Bankruptcy Code and the Federal Rules are for counsel to calculate. Last verified October 2026.

Memberships and certifications

Trustee or creditors' counsel with a thin set of schedules?

Send the case number. We will read the schedules and the statement of financial affairs against the record and tell you within days whether there is something to administer or object to, and what it would cost to prove. Scoped to the size of the estate.

Contact Integra Intelligence