Creditor Proof of Claim and Bankruptcy Response Checklist: A Practical Checklist

Summary. When a customer files for bankruptcy, a creditor has a short window in which nearly all of the available value is captured, and most of it is captured by knowing which of several parallel tracks apply. The unsecured claim is one track; goods delivered in the twenty days before filing are another with a much better priority; payments received in the ninety days before filing are a liability rather than an asset; and the personal guaranty is unaffected by the filing. This checklist runs the first sixty days in order, identifies every deadline that cannot be extended, and flags the strategic decisions that carry consequences beyond the immediate recovery.

What this checklist is for. A creditor's response when a customer or counterparty files. For the underlying rules, see Chapter 7 Liquidation and Creditors' Rights and Preference and Fraudulent Transfer Claims.

Phase 1 — Week one

Stop all collection immediately. Pull the account from any agency, cancel automatic debits, halt pending litigation, release any garnishment or levy, and confirm in writing. The automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 applies from the moment of filing and violations are sanctionable.
Do not exercise setoff without relief from stay, though a bank may place an administrative freeze pending a motion.
Docket the deadlines: the § 341 meeting, any claims bar date, the § 503(b)(9) deadline, and the sixty-day dischargeability deadline in an individual case.
Determine your status — secured, priority, administrative, or general unsecured — and whether more than one applies.
If secured, confirm perfection as of the petition date: the UCC-1 on file, in the correct jurisdiction, against the correct debtor name, not lapsed. An unperfected lien is avoidable under § 544.
Identify goods delivered in the twenty days before filing. § 503(b)(9) gives an administrative priority claim for the value of goods received by the debtor within that window in the ordinary course. This is far better than an unsecured claim and it has its own deadline.
Evaluate reclamation under § 546(c) — a written demand is required within a very short period after receipt.
Locate your property at the debtor's premises: consigned goods, bailed equipment, tooling, and goods in transit. Confirm any consignment was perfected.
Compute your preference exposure — every payment received in the ninety days (one year for insiders) — and preserve the records supporting the ordinary course and new value defenses now.
Pursue guarantors. The corporate debtor's stay does not protect them.
Check for letters of credit, credit insurance, and co-obligors.

Why this matters. Three of these have deadlines measured in days, and two of them — the § 503(b)(9) claim and reclamation — convert an unsecured claim into something worth collecting.

Phase 2 — Filing the claim

File Official Form 410 by the bar date. In a Chapter 11, the bar date is set by order; in a Chapter 7, it is generally seventy days after the order for relief, with a longer period for governmental units.
Attach the writing on which the claim is based — invoices, the note, the contract — and, for a secured claim, evidence of perfection.
For a claim secured by property, complete the security interest section and state the value of the collateral.
Assert priority where applicable, citing the subsection.
File a separate § 503(b)(9) request if the court's procedures require it rather than allowing it on the claim form.
Redact account numbers, dates of birth, and other protected information as the rules require.
Keep the filed copy and the receipt.
Amend rather than filing duplicates if the amount changes.

A strategic caution. Filing a proof of claim submits the creditor to the bankruptcy court's equitable jurisdiction for claims-allowance purposes, and courts have held this waives a jury trial right on a preference claim. In a case where you expect a preference demand and the distribution is likely to be small, weigh the claim's value against the waiver.

Phase 3 — Protecting collateral

Demand adequate protection for any collateral the debtor is using — periodic payments, replacement liens, or an equity cushion.
Object to cash collateral use if the proposed protection is inadequate, and negotiate a stipulation with reporting and budget covenants.
Move for relief from stay under § 362(d) where the debtor has no equity and the property is not necessary to an effective reorganization, or for lack of adequate protection.
Note that the stay terminates automatically thirty days after a relief request unless the court orders otherwise after a preliminary hearing — use it.
Monitor any § 363 sale of your collateral and confirm your lien attaches to proceeds; object if the sale is free and clear without adequate protection.
Consider a § 1111(b) election in a Chapter 11 where the collateral is undervalued and the deficiency claim is worth less than full treatment of the secured claim.
Confirm the debtor is insuring the collateral, and demand certificates.
For an oversecured claim, assert post-petition interest and fees under § 506(b).

Phase 4 — Investigating

Attend the § 341 meeting if the claim is significant. It is a free deposition of the debtor.
Ask about transfers to insiders, undisclosed assets, the disposition of specific collateral, prior loan applications and financial statements, and any prepetition sale or restructuring.
Request a Rule 2004 examination where questions remain. The scope is extraordinarily broad and no adversary proceeding is required.
Review the schedules and statement of financial affairs against your own records for omissions.
Review monthly operating reports in a Chapter 11 for administrative solvency and for compliance.
For an individual debtor, evaluate nondischargeability under § 523 — a false financial statement, fraud, fiduciary defalcation, or willful and malicious injury — and file within sixty days of the first date set for the § 341 meeting. This deadline is fatal and extensions must be sought before it expires.
Evaluate a § 727 objection to the discharge entirely where there is concealment, a false oath, or destruction of records.

Phase 5 — The case as it develops

Consider serving on the creditors' committee in a Chapter 11 — the estate pays the committee's professionals, and the information access is substantial.
Track executory contract treatment: if your contract is assumed, you are entitled to cure of all defaults and adequate assurance of future performance; if rejected, you have a general unsecured claim for damages with its own bar date.
Review the disclosure statement and plan for classification, treatment, releases, and the liquidation analysis.
Vote your ballot. A class in which nobody votes cannot reject.
Object to third-party releases, to inadequate treatment, or to feasibility where warranted, and note that nonconsensual releases of claims against nondebtors are not authorized.
If a preference demand arrives, respond in writing with the payment history, the days-to-pay baseline analysis, and the new value schedule. The 2019 amendment requires the trustee to consider known defenses.
Remember § 502(d): your entire claim is disallowed until an avoidable transfer is returned — and § 502(h): returning it gives you an allowed unsecured claim for the amount returned.

Common mistakes

Continuing collection after the filing, producing stay violation damages.
Missing the § 503(b)(9) deadline, converting an administrative claim into an unsecured one.
Never sending a reclamation demand, which has a window measured in days.
A lapsed or misfiled UCC-1, discovered when the trustee avoids the lien.
Ignoring the sixty-day dischargeability deadline in an individual case.
Filing a proof of claim without weighing the jury trial waiver in a case with real preference exposure.
Preference records not preserved, so the defenses cannot be proved eighteen months later.
Not voting, and being bound by a plan the class could have rejected.
Forgetting the guarantor, who is not protected by the debtor's stay.
Treating the § 341 meeting as optional when it is the cheapest discovery in the case.

Primary authority

11 U.S.C. § 362 (stay); § 501 and § 502 (claims); § 503(b)(9); § 506; § 507; § 523 and § 727; § 546(c); § 547; § 553 (setoff); § 1111(b).
Rules: Bankruptcy Rules 3002 and 3003 (claims), 2004 (examinations), 4004 and 4007 (discharge and dischargeability deadlines).

This checklist is educational and not legal advice. Bar dates, local rules, and claims procedures vary by district and by case, and several deadlines identified here cannot be extended. Consult qualified bankruptcy counsel promptly on receipt of a bankruptcy notice.