Interrogatories – don’t be afraid!

I have been seeing more and more of my clients receive interrogatory requests from their creditor’s counsel. Typically they arrive in very “scary” attorney letterhead fashion, making ridiculous demands (personal bank statements from the past 5 years.. really?), and threatening to hold the debtor in contempt of court if they don’t meet these demands.

Essentially, interrogatories are glorified document requests that go above and beyond the typical paper flow of a debt workout. The specific document requests tend to be on the unreasonable side, with the aforementioned bank statement request being a prime example. Here’s a good rule of thumb for dealing with these: don’t expend more resources on hiring additional staff, bookkeeper, accountant to meet the demands of an interrogatory request. Give them everything you have accessible that they are requesting, but don’t stress out over the absurd demands if the documents are simply unavailable.

Another tip is that most of the attorneys handling this are willing to extend the deadline for the requests, so be sure to ask for one if you simply need more time to prepare.

Most interrogatories also have an in-person deposition component to them. As long as you have prepared your answers to the questions they asked you ahead of time (typically apart of the document request), you have nothing to worry about. The process is breezy and informal, and will likely take less than 30 minutes. This isn’t a situation where you are going in front of a judge, Law & Order style. It’s a matter of showing up and being prepared – which of course, is a lesson that applies to all facets of life.