Written by Craig D. Robins, Esq.Last week I wrote a post in which I said that You Need Certain Identification to File for Bankruptcy [1]. I did have one unusual case in which my client could not obtain the necessary photo ID.
Several years ago I represented a disabled woman through the Volunteer Lawyers Project. She had no photo identification when she came to my office and had never driven a car in her life. In addition, she had never worked. As you can imagine, she never received a driver’s license or any other kind of photo identification.
I sent her to the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles to get an official New York State identification card, but they refused to give her one because she had no other sources of identification to prove who she was.
When I filed her bankruptcy case in the Central Islip Bankruptcy Court, the Chapter 7 trustee, Allan B. Mendelsohn, eventually agreed to examine her at the meeting of creditors, but did not officially close the meeting. I then brought a motion to waive the identification requirements after reviewing the matter with the Office of the United States Trustee. The motion was granted, the trustee closed the meeting of creditors, and the debtor received her discharge.
