Valuing your personal property
Chapter 7 bankruptcy debtors are required to list the value of their personal property on their petition, as theirs is a “no asset” case. Debtors often have questions about how to value “used” items of property that would have depreciated in amount after purchase. Bankruptcy attorneys are currently required to provide any clients they meet with as a mandatory disclosure the BAPCA required notice of instructions for providing the required information [s. 527(c) of the Bankruptcy Code]. These instructions provide further guidance specifically for personal property that serves as the collateral for a debt listed on the petition. The value would be “determined based on the replacement value of such property as of the filing date of the bankruptcy case without deduction for selling or marketing costs.” The instructions actually guide debtors to either retail stores selling such used items or “if you can’t find a store that sells similar items in similar condition, the next best source for an objective appraisal is probably eBay or a similar online market.”
