The Bankruptcy Code requires bankruptcy filers to provide copies of all "payment advices" received within 60 days before the petition filing date, thus precluding automatic dismissal of his case.
But what if the debtor received paystubs but doesn't have them anymore? The Second Circuit (which doesn't control California cases) found that there were two possible readings of the statute ("which, to put it mildly, is not a model of syntactical clarity," the court said. As the West Bankruptcy Newsletter reports, there is a document-focused reading and a payment-focused reading.
In a document-focused approach, the requirement would be to produce the actual pay stubs or other proof of payment. If you received proof and don't provide it, regardless of the reason, sorry, you are S-O-L and the case will be dismissed. No tickee, no laundry.
In a payment-focused approach, it's not the actual documents received but that the debtor provides evidence of payment received in the 60 days before filing. In that case, the Court found that the debtor did provide evidence of payment within the previous 60 days and the dismissal was rescinded.
While the Ninth Circuit hasn't ruled on this issue, it appears that the Second Circuit's reasoning would apply here in Sonoma County and Northern California. So, a word to to the wise: Hold on to those paystubs!
