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Replacing your lost social security card before bankruptcy

At your bankruptcy hearing, you are supposed to show your bankruptcy trustee a picture ID and evidence of your social security number. The best way to prove your social security number is with your social security card.  However, a W-2 will also work.  (At the bankruptcy court here in Alexandria, VA, your own tax form is NOT good enough. And your passport does NOT have your social security number on it.)

For self employed people, there may be no W-2.  So what to do?

Being self employed myself–and having lost my own social security card ten or more years ago–I decided to see how hard it is to go to the social security office and get them to send me a new card.  (Since I’m near age 65, I thought a probably should do something about it, anyway.)

I hadn’t seen my social security card in ten years. So I went to their office and got a new one.

It wasn’t too bad.    I went to the social security office in Manassas, a few blocks from the Prince William Court House.  The whole process took an hour and twenty minutes.  Wait in line, fill in a form, wait some more, show my driver’s license to somebody, who put info into a computer and had a new card mailed to me.  (They used to give you a letter on the spot, saying what your social security number is. That stopped)

To fill in the form, I needed to know what my social security number is, know my parents names and know where I was born.  (The form asks for my parents social security numbers, but not having them wasn’t a problem–there was a box to check unknown.)  And of course I needed my Virginia driver’s license.  A passport would also work.

Besides Manassas, they also have offices in Alexandria, Arlington and Fredericksburg.

Ordering Your Social Security Card on the Internet

Since late 2015, the Social Security Administration has allowed people to apply for a replacement social security card on line.  To order your card that way, the Social Security website much match the info they have for you, with what your state DMV has for your drivers license.  In August 2017, Virginia was added to the states, where you can do this. Here’s where to start.  

At least once a month, we have bankruptcy clients who only figure out at the last minute that they don’t have their social security card.  As I said, a W-2 or a 1099 will also work.  But in this security conscious time we are living in, replacing your lost social security card before bankruptcy is a good idea.