Steps to Bankruptcy Filing
Whether you are dealing with a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13, the steps to bankruptcy filing are roughly the same. In either case, a bankruptcy attorney must be involved in this process.
Do you really need a lawyer? Yes. The documents that you must prepare in order to file are more than one hundred pages long. Within those one hundred pages are numerous legal terms and phrases that may take months to understand on your own. Additionally, if you do not hire an attorney you risk filing incorrectly. If you do not file correctly, your case will be thrown out of court…and you will have to go through it all once again. Thus, the first steps to bankruptcy filing include a lawyer consultation.
During this consultation, your lawyer will be able to go over all the details of your case with you. Once you have decided whether to file Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, you will then have to go through the process of preparing the documents. Following this preparation, the documents will be submitted to the U.S. District Court Bankruptcy Division that is in your area. Unless the filing fee (usually around $200) is properly waived, this fee will be due upon filing.
If the court accepts your filing, your creditors will then get a notice advising them of your intent. Any creditors that wish to dispute your filing will do so at this time. You will then be asked to attend a “Meeting of Creditors.” During this meeting, your creditors will ask you various questions about your situation. Those that object to your filing will appeal to the court. At this point, it is wise to turn the rest of your case over to your attorney. Since the steps to bankruptcy filing get rather complex from this point on, only your bankruptcy attorney will be able to handle all objections, claims, and other disputes.
In no manner is filing for insolvency easy. In fact, it will be one of the hardest decisions that you ever have to make. This is precisely why you need to hire a bankruptcy lawyer to handle your case.
Though the steps to bankruptcy filing may take awhile, in the end you should be relieved that all of your burdens are lifted. At this point, try to build up your credit once again in order to avoid going through this process ever again.