In the past, Americans were known for their honesty. As time has gone on it seems not so much now. It is not uncommon to hear about people cheating on their taxes, lying and speeding in their cars. These are all considered no longer bad from the perspective of society. It's common to see people lie about stuff that really doesn't even matter. Just go online and read some of the trash that's on social media and wonder how people would post this stuff thinking that people would actually believe it. I think that people have become so narcissistic that they don't care about anything that doesn't affect themselves. Now, this behavior is transferring to the people filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In most cases, the bankruptcy attorney will make it very clear to their clients the importance of honesty when dealing with the bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy trustee expects honesty and respect from individuals filing bankruptcy. If a person decides to withhold information and the bankruptcy trustee finds out about it, trust will be broken and he will need to investigate the entire bankruptcy petition for truthfulness.

In today's technology driven world, it's not hard to catch someone who is filing bankruptcy lying on their petition. All the bankruptcy trustee would have to do is check the Internet and search for the person on many of the social media outlets online. It seems that people like to brag to the world about how large they are living and show off what they drive. It would be pretty hard to explain a lavish vacation planned immediately following the bankruptcy filing. The bankruptcy trustee would have some questions for this individual filing bankruptcy. Why would someone that is so broke and need to file, be taking an extravagant vacation. Are they lying to impress their friends or are they lying to the court? It now becomes a trust issue. It seems that truth has become a thing of the past, especially with the younger generations. When a bankruptcy attorney asks their client to be truthful, they mean it. For one it could cause the bankruptcy attorney a lot of embarrassment being blindsided with this information at the 341 meeting. It is much easier to give all the information to the attorney and let them sort it out since this is what they are paid for. They can decide what's important and what is not. For those who decide to press the issue of truthfulness, the bankruptcy trustee in the least can dismiss the bankruptcy. If they decide to take it further it could even mean jail time for the individual filing. People should remember that much of that stuff they are trying to protect, doesn't belong to them because they bought it with the credit cards they are filing bankruptcy on.