What Does a Bankruptcy Specialist Do?

A bankruptcy specialist is a professional who handles the accounts of a customer who has filed for bankruptcy. He or she strives to alleviate legal liability and financial loss to both the company and to the company’s investors. Industry jobs are available at banks and financial services companies. Professionals who work in this industry must understand bankruptcy legislation and know how to read and apply a variety of legal documents to individual cases.

One of the most important duties of the position is to make sure that the current bankruptcy case accounts comply with established industry laws. These specialists not only must stay up-to-date on bankruptcy laws that apply to their state or country, but also should know their employer’s procedures for handling bankruptcy accounts. An understanding of the structure and function of bankruptcy courts is critical as well because these specialists are heavily involved in court proceedings.

A bankruptcy professional additionally is responsible for handling communications duties. He or she manages calls from customers, attorneys, and trustees associated with a bankruptcy estate. For this reason, a bankruptcy specialist should have strong writing and speaking skills. These types of jobs also require individuals to be persuasive to get bankruptcy lawyers to meet certain deadlines and complete the necessary tasks to reach a certain judgment in a case. Negotiation skills are a must in the bankruptcy specialist career field.

Other important tasks of a bankruptcy specialist include handling paperwork and accounting procedures, as well as producing business reports. Job descriptions demand that these individuals regularly review mailed and faxed documents related to pending bankruptcy cases to determine their relevance and then decide the proper course of action to take with them. Placing orders for supplementary documents required in a bankruptcy case also is critical in the role. These workers perform audits of bankruptcy accounts to pinpoint blunders and work with external regulators to fix any accounting problems as well. A bankruptcy professional also analyzes company statistics and prepares relevant reports.

Duties related to mortgages also are important in bankruptcy specialist jobs. A bankruptcy specialist looks at home appraisals and broker price opinions to find out a mortgagor’s property value and the amount of equity that the borrower has in his home at the time of foreclosure. They essentially must decipher a bankruptcy customer’s previous payments. These individuals additionally go through home mortgage papers to understand the requirements of a customer’s loan and what recourse customers have during bankruptcy.