How to Amend your Statement of Intentions

The Statement of Intentions is the bankruptcy form that you filed with the court to let your creditors know what you want to do with your secured debts, most often a car loan. If you have changed your mind and need to amend (update) your Statement of Intentions, follow the steps outlined in this article. Note, if you originally intended to surrender the vehicle but now want to keep it and reaffirm the loan, you may only be able to do so if you’re still current with your payments and the vehicle is insured. If you’re behind on payments, banks will typically require that you bring the loan fully current before they will consider a reaffirmation. 

You can get a blank copy of the Statement of Intentions as a fillable pdf from the US Courts’ forms page. Download and save the form to your computer so you don’t lose any changes when you close your browser window.

You can fill out the amendment by hand after printing a copy, or use the fillable form template to update everything using Adobe.

Case Information

Every bankruptcy form contains certain case information at the top of the first page: 

Since you are amending your Statement of Intentions, make sure to check the box in the right corner to indicate that this is an amended filing. 

You will need your name, the name of the court, and your case number. If you filed jointly with your spouse, make sure you include their name as well. You can find the name of the court and your case number on Official Form 309A, Notice of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Case. If you can’t find that form, you can contact your local bankruptcy clerk at the courthouse to get all of your case information. 

All following pages have this at the very top:

If you’re using the official fillable forms, adding your information on the first page will automatically update this information on all following pages. If you’re filling everything out by hand or using non-fillable forms, make sure to add this information on every page.

Unchanged Information

The parts of your Statement of Intentions flagged with blue arrows below will contain the same information as in your original filing: 

Statement of Intention, Part. 2

Note: Part 2 remains unchanged unless you’ve changed your mind with respect to a lease agreement, like a car lease or the lease for your residence. 

Complete all unchanged information using the information contained in your original Statement of Intentions, including the checked intention. 

Updating your Intent

To let the court and the bank know that you’ve changed your mind and want to surrender your car, check the appropriate box: 

Sign & Date

Print the form, then sign and date on the second page where indicated. If you’ve filed a joint case with your spouse, make sure to have them sign too. You’ll need a total of 3 copies, so make sure to either print 3 copies and sign and date them all, or make 2 copies of the signed original. One copy is for you to keep in your files. Send the other copy to the bank. 

File the Amended Form

To file your Amended Statement of Intentions, submit the original signed version of the form to the court. You can do so either by mailing it to the courthouse or dropping it off at the clerk’s office in person. If you do that, bring your two copies and ask the clerk to stamp them with the filing information for you. There is no court filing fee to file an Amended Statement of Intentions.