What happens next – after you make the bankruptcy filing

 

This section of our debt free article covering person bankruptcy will cover what happens after you file personal bankruptcy.

As far as Chapter 7 goes, these are the basic steps involved:

1. You put together all needed information your bankruptcy lawyer will need in order to fill out all of your legal documents for your petition to file bankruptcy.
2. Your petition will be filed with the correct bankruptcy court.
3. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee will be assigned to your case in order to collect your current assets.
4. The trustee will then liquidate your assets and distribute the money earned pro rata. This means that the money will be allocated to creditors based on a percentage of the total amount you owe them. Each. A certain amount will go to each.
5. You will then be discharged from the debt and permitted to start over with a clean slate financially.

Whether you hire a lawyer or not (and we highly recommend that you do), you will have to organize any financial papers like bills and such that will aid in your decision as to filing and the process itself. You have to have all your papers ready to go for timely filing. For instance, you will need to have a copy of your latest credit card statements - this includes all creditors. You have to have the total amounts you owe each creditor in order to get going.

After you have put together all of your debts, bills and organized the statements, put together documents (like receipts and such) that disclose the worth of any of your assets. You will not have to sell all of these assets, especially if your debts are unsecured, but you will need to disclose all of your assets – even the items you collect from you hobby. Always be honest, the last thing you want to do is be deceitful. You do not want to go and sell your 1969 Corvette to your best friend for $1 the week before you file bankruptcy.

Hiring a Lawyer

Locating the right lawyer to assist you with your bankruptcy proceedings will not be very hard. The fact that so many Americans have filed as of late has caused quite a few lawyers to take to bankruptcy filing like bees to honey. Seriously, there are plenty of competent lawyers in your town that should be affordable.

Try checking out the state office of the American Bar Association for a list of bankruptcy lawyers. You can always check your yellow pages, but just because a lawyer has a full page color ad does not make them the best attorney – so be aware.

Your first meeting with counsel will take a lot of effort to figure out your cases detailed assessment. This meeting should also provide you with a solid outlook as to whether this is the right decision for you. While you should not be hasty about your bankruptcy decisions, you should at least walk away from your first meeting with your lawyer or potential lawyer with a pretty good picture of what is to come and what you realty need to consider.

Try asking the lawyer how long they have been practicing bankruptcy law and how long in your actual state (because bankruptcy laws vary from state to state). Ask this person how many case they have successfully had discharged. Be certain that you know about all fees involved. Be sure you feel comfortable with this person’s answers too. They should be detailed and informative. You want to find a lawyer who will represent you firmly but not to abrupt. You want someone who has a good reputation in court. The more familiar your attorney is with the legal system and the judges, the better off you will be.

Ask for a total outline, in writing, as to how much the bankruptcy will be costing you with this lawyer. This estimate needs to include any extra issues that may arise from your circumstance. You should know, bankruptcy code specifically states that the debtor has to pay fro the filing fee. This amount is typically 1/10 of the entire legal fee, as long as the case is simple. This fee is not waived or discharged at all.

Filing petition

After you are set with an attorney, here comes the hard work. You have to put together all of the detailed information regarding your financial life. The more complicated your finances are, the more complicated your bankruptcy filing will be. Be sure to outline everything you own right down to the couch in your living room. . You can sell things before you file, but you have to sell them at fair market value. Be sure to keep records of any sale too.

You cannot select which creditors that you can or cannot pay either. This is up to the courts after you file. Once a creditor has information that you have filed, they cannot pressure you into paying them anymore.

Be sure to list every single person you owe money to on your filing.

Never try to pay off a credit card in full after you file just so you have a credit card. They are not obligated to keep you as a customer even if you pay in full after a filing. Be aware of this.

Tell your lawyer everything. They are hired to help you, not judge you. They cannot help you the best way they know how to if you leave things out.

The next section of this debt free article regarding bankruptcy will cover the status of your creditors after you have filed bankruptcy, Be sure to read it.

 

Part 8…

 

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