The act of filing for bankruptcy is fairly simple. Collect all the forms, fill them in and present them to your local court. You will need to collect certain documents to include with your filing, and you will need to pay a filing fee at the time you file. Sound simple? As simple as it sounds, the actual process is a little more involved. Here are the essential steps to filing for bankruptcy.
Credit counseling - the moment you decide you’re going to file for bankruptcy, seek out an eligible credit counseling service and complete their pre-bankruptcy counseling session. Be sure to collect your certificate at the completion of the session. You will need to show this to the court.
Which Chapter – as an individual, you will need to determine whether or not you qualify for a Chapter 7. If you don’t, you will need to file under a Chapter 13. A simple rule of thumb – if you are working and receiving a reasonable pay packet, you will most likely have to file under a Chapter 13. If you are not working and not receiving a reasonable income, then a Chapter 7 is your best option.
Collect forms – once you have determined the appropriate Chapter, you will need to collect the forms required to file and to fill out every form honestly. You will also have to collect any records such as bank statements, income tax returns, and documentation related to your debts.
File documents – once all the documents have been filled, you will need to present them at the courthouse along with the required filing fee. The court will then process these documents and set the bankruptcy process in motion.
While the process sounds simple, the form filling alone can be difficult. Engaging a bankruptcy attorney can save you from all of that work and, given their experience, save a lot of time as well. Your attorney can do almost everything apart from collecting documents that you have in your possession, and undertaking the credit counseling – you will still have to do that yourself.
Those steps will get your documents to the courthouse, but that is only the start of the process. From here it can get even more complicated, and that’s where your attorney can really earn his fee.
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