Statement of Financial Affairs (Official Form 107): What You Have to Disclose

What is the Statement of Financial Affairs, and how does it actually work?

Form 107 is a questionnaire, not a calculation. It walks through your recent financial history in numbered parts: marital status and where you have lived, sources of income, payments you made to creditors, lawsuits and repossessions, gifts and charitable contributions, losses, payments to anyone who helped you with your debts, transfers of property, closed accounts, safe deposit boxes, storage units, property you hold for someone else, environmental matters, and business history.

The form instructs filers to "be as complete and accurate as possible" and to "answer every question," and tells you to attach a separate sheet with your name and case number on it if you need more space (Bankr. N.D. Ill. official guidance — Chapter 7 - Additional Documents). Married people filing together are both equally responsible for supplying correct information.

Filing it is not optional paperwork. Section 521(a)(1) lists "a statement of the debtor's financial affairs" among the documents a debtor must file (11 U.S.C. § 521).

• It reports history, not current holdings — that is what the schedules do.
• Both spouses in a joint case are responsible for the accuracy of the answers.
• Additional pages are expected when the boxes run out.

Which lookback period applies to which question?

This is where people get tripped up. There is no single lookback window on Form 107. Each question sets its own, and reading the wrong one is the most common way an honest filer produces an incomplete answer.

The form asks whether you lived anywhere other than your current home during the last three years, and whether you lived with a spouse or legal equivalent in a community property state within the last eight years. Legal actions, repossessions, foreclosures, garnishments, seizures, and levies are reported for the year before filing. Payments to someone who promised to help you deal with your creditors are reported for the year before filing. Outright transfers and transfers made as security are reported for the two years before filing, excluding ordinary-course business transfers and anything already listed elsewhere on the form (Bankr. M.D. La. filing packet — Ch7_Vol_Petition_ Package-2026.pdf).

Why do the transfer and payment questions get so much attention?

Because two sections of the Bankruptcy Code turn on them. A trustee reading your answers about payments and transfers is checking whether anything you did before filing can be undone and brought back into the estate for creditors.

That is why the form separates categories that feel similar to a filer but are legally distinct: ordinary payments to creditors, payments to insiders, gifts, charitable contributions, payments to anyone who promised to help you deal with your creditors, and outright transfers of property. Repaying a relative who lent you money is not fraud, and it is not a reason to avoid disclosing it. It is simply a category the trustee is entitled to see.

The practical rule is the boring one: disclose it and let the process sort it out. Moving property out of your name shortly before filing to keep it from creditors is the specific behavior these questions are built to surface, and it is far worse than the exposure you were trying to avoid.

• Ordinary creditor payments, insider payments, and gifts are separate questions — do not merge them.
• Transfers "made as security," such as granting a mortgage or security interest, count as transfers.
• Do not list the same transfer twice; each question tells you what to exclude.

What does federal law say about this disclosure duty?

Section 521(a)(1) requires a debtor to file a list of creditors and, unless the court orders otherwise, a schedule of assets and liabilities, a schedule of current income and expenditures, and a statement of the debtor's financial affairs (11 U.S.C. § 521). Form 107 is the official form for that last item.

Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 1007 sets out which lists, schedules, statements, and other documents must be filed and when (Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007). Failure to file the § 521(a)(1) information within fifteen days after the petition, or such additional time as the court allows, is listed in 11 U.S.C. § 707(a) as cause for dismissal of a Chapter 7 case on a motion by the United States trustee.

There is also an accuracy standard written into the Code's disclosure rules: information a debtor provides is required to be "complete, accurate, and truthful," and all assets and liabilities must be completely and accurately disclosed (11 U.S.C. § 527).

• 11 U.S.C. § 521 — the duty to file the statement of financial affairs.
• Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007 — what gets filed and when.
• 11 U.S.C. § 707(a)(3) — late § 521(a)(1) information as cause for dismissal.
• 11 U.S.C. § 527 — the complete, accurate, and truthful standard.

Where do local and district rules change what you file?

Form 107 itself is a national form, so the questions are the same everywhere. What varies is the mechanics around it — deadlines, formatting, and what the clerk does if something is missing.

Some districts specify the order documents are collated in. New Hampshire's local rule requires schedules and statements to be filed as one PDF with the petition first, the Statement of Financial Affairs second, then Schedules A/B through J (LBR 1007-1). Alaska requires each schedule and statement to be a separate, legible document containing all required information without incorporating another document by reference (AK LBR 1007-1).

Several districts prohibit blank items. Montana requires every blank in every form to be completed (Mont. LBR 1007-1); Eastern Washington and Alaska both require "none" or "not applicable" to be entered for any item not otherwise completed (E.D. Wash. LBR 1007-1; AK LBR 1007-1). Timing also varies locally — check your own district's rules and your court's filing packet.

• Collation order and PDF assembly are local rules, not national ones.
• "None" or "not applicable" is required in several districts rather than a blank.
• Deficiency and dismissal procedures for missing statements are set district by district.

What does this look like in practice, question by question?

Consider the sections people most often under-answer. Part 4 asks whether you were a party in any lawsuit, court action, or administrative proceeding within the year before filing, and it explicitly includes personal injury cases, small claims actions, divorces, collection suits, paternity actions, support or custody modifications, and contract disputes (U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Alaska, The Forms Individuals and Married Couples Need to File Bankruptcy). A divorce counts. A small claims case counts.

The same part asks whether any property was repossessed, foreclosed, garnished, attached, seized, or levied in that year, with the creditor's name, a description of the property, the date, and its value.

Part 8 asks whether you stored property in a storage unit or anywhere other than your home in the last year, including who else had access. Part 9 asks whether you hold or control property someone else owns — anything you borrowed, are storing for someone, or hold in trust. Part 10 asks about environmental notices and proceedings, reported regardless of when they occurred.

• A divorce, a custody modification, and a collection suit are all "legal actions."
• A garnishment you did not contest still gets reported.
• Your sister's furniture in your garage is property you hold for someone else.

What documents and information should you gather first?

Form 107 is far easier to complete accurately if you assemble records before you start rather than answering from memory. Most of the questions are answerable from documents you can pull in an afternoon.

The form does not exist in isolation. It cross-references your schedules: if you lived with a spouse or legal equivalent in a community property state within the last eight years, the form directs you to fill out Schedule H: Your Codebtors (Official Form 106H). Federal law separately requires copies of all payment advices or other evidence of payment received from any employer within the sixty days before the petition date (11 U.S.C. § 521).

Your Social Security number goes on Official Form 121, which is submitted separately and kept out of the public case file — it is not disclosed on Form 107 (Bankr. M.D. La. filing packet — Ch13_Vol_Petition_ Package-2026.pdf).

• Tax returns and income records covering the years the form asks about
• Bank statements, including for accounts you closed
• Pay stubs from the 60 days before filing
• Court papers from any lawsuit, divorce, or collection case in the last year
• Records of anything you sold, traded, gave away, or transferred in the last two years
• Receipts for anything you paid to a debt-relief company or credit counselor
• Lease or contract for any storage unit

What happens if something is wrong or missing on the form?

Two different things can go wrong, and they carry very different weight.

The first is an omission you did not intend. Forms can be amended — the official form itself carries a checkbox for "Check if this is an amended filing" (Bankr. N.D. Ill. official guidance — Chapter 13 - Additional Documents). Missing documents are usually handled procedurally at first. In Montana, if required forms are not filed with the petition, the clerk enters a Deficiency Notice identifying each omitted item, followed by a Notice of Pending Dismissal if the deficiency is not cured within fourteen days (Mont. LBR 1007-1).

The second is different in kind. Court filing packets warn that if you knowingly and fraudulently conceal assets or make a false oath or statement under penalty of perjury in connection with a bankruptcy case, you may be fined, imprisoned, or both, and that all information you supply is subject to examination by the Office of the U.S. Trustee and the Department of Justice (Bankr. E.D. La. official guidance — Chapter 13 Form Packet).

• Amending is normal; concealing is not.
• Missing forms typically trigger a deficiency notice with a cure period before dismissal.
• Everything on the form is supplied under penalty of perjury.

What should you ask a bankruptcy lawyer about Form 107?

The questions worth paying for are the judgment calls, not the data entry. Most of Form 107 is transcription from records. A handful of answers require someone to look at your specific facts and tell you how they are likely to be read.

Bring the documents to the meeting rather than a summary of them. A lawyer reading an actual closing statement or a bank record will spot a reportable transfer that a verbal description will not surface, and the cost of that review is small next to the cost of an amended filing or a trustee's motion.

Note that a lawyer's fee is separate from what the court charges. The Chapter 7 filing fee is $245 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1)), with a $78 administrative fee (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8) and a $15 trustee surcharge (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9). The Chapter 13 filing fee is $235 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B)) plus the same $78 administrative fee.

• "I repaid a family member last year — which question does that belong to?"
• "I sold a vehicle eighteen months ago. Is that an ordinary-course transfer or a reportable one?"
• "I am on the deed to my parent's house. Is that mine, or property I hold for someone else?"
• "I paid a debt settlement company. Where does that go?"
• "I already filed and forgot something. How do I amend, and what happens next?"

Frequently asked questions

Is Form 107 the same as the schedules?

No. The schedules describe your current financial position — what you own, what you owe, your income and expenses. Form 107 describes your recent financial history: where you lived, what you earned, who you paid, what you transferred, and what legal actions you were involved in. Section 521(a)(1) lists the schedules and the statement of financial affairs as separate required filings (11 U.S.C. § 521).

Do I have to answer questions that do not apply to me?

Yes, and in several districts you must write something rather than leave the space empty. Montana requires every blank in every form to be completed (Mont. LBR 1007-1). Eastern Washington requires "none" or "not applicable" for each item not otherwise filled out (E.D. Wash. LBR 1007-1). Alaska has the same requirement (AK LBR 1007-1). Check your own district's local rule.

Does a divorce count as a legal action I need to report?

The form says yes. Part 4 asks whether you were a party in any lawsuit, court action, or administrative proceeding within the year before filing, and lists divorces alongside personal injury cases, small claims actions, collection suits, paternity actions, and support or custody modifications (U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Alaska, The Forms Individuals and Married Couples Need to File Bankruptcy). You report the case title, case number, court, and status.

What if I forget something after I have already filed?

Official Form 107 includes a box to check indicating an amended filing (Bankr. N.D. Ill. official guidance — Chapter 13 - Additional Documents), so amending is a built-in part of the process. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer about how and when to amend in your district. The serious risk is not correcting an error — it is knowingly making a false statement, which the court's own filing packets warn can result in fines, imprisonment, or both.

Does my Social Security number go on Form 107?

No. Social Security and Individual Taxpayer Identification numbers go on Official Form 121, which is submitted separately and is not included in the court's public electronic records; the court makes only the last four digits public (Bankr. M.D. La. filing packet — Ch13_Vol_Petition_ Package-2026.pdf). Several districts have their own filing procedure for it — Alaska, for example, requires it to be submitted to the clerk rather than attached to the petition (AK LBR 1007-1).

What happens if I never file the statement of financial affairs?

Failure to file the information required by § 521(a)(1) within fifteen days after the petition, or such additional time as the court allows, is listed in 11 U.S.C. § 707(a) as cause for dismissing a Chapter 7 case on a motion by the United States trustee. Districts also have their own procedures — Montana's clerk issues a Deficiency Notice and then a Notice of Pending Dismissal if the omission is not cured within fourteen days (Mont. LBR 1007-1).

Does the form differ between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13?

Form 107 is the same national form in both. It appears in the Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 packets districts publish for individual filers (Bankr. N.D. Ill. official guidance — Chapter 7 - Additional Documents; Bankr. N.D. Ill. official guidance — Chapter 13 - Additional Documents). What differs between the chapters is other paperwork, such as the Statement of Intention for secured property, which is a Chapter 7 form.

Do I need a lawyer to fill out Form 107?

That is your decision, and courts publish pro se packets precisely because people do file without one. What a lawyer adds on this form is judgment about the transfer, insider-payment, and property-interest questions, where the right answer depends on your specific facts. The mechanical parts are transcription from records you already have.

Sources

• 11 U.S.C. § 521 — Debtor's duties · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 527 — Disclosures · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 707 — Dismissal of a case or conversion to a case under chapter 11 or 13 · official source
• Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007 — Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Other Documents; Time to File · official source
• Bankr. N.D. Ill. official guidance — Chapter 7 - Additional Documents
• Bankr. N.D. Ill. official guidance — Chapter 13 - Additional Documents
• Bankr. E.D. La. official guidance — Chapter 13 Form Packet
• Bankr. M.D. La. filing packet — Ch7_Vol_Petition_ Package-2026.pdf
• Bankr. M.D. La. filing packet — Ch13_Vol_Petition_ Package-2026.pdf
• U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Alaska, The Forms Individuals and Married Couples Need to File Bankruptcy
• AK LBR 1007-1 — Form and Content of Schedules and Statements
• Mont. LBR 1007-1
• E.D. Wash. LBR 1007-1
• LBR 1007-1 — Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Other Documents (D.N.H.)
• 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1)
• 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B)
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9

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