There’s a few things that people should know before they file a bankruptcy case. First, the most important thing is that there’s two main types of bankruptcies: one is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and the other is a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Another thing that people should know before they file bankruptcy is that bankruptcy can affect their credit; it can help their credit score or it can hurt their credit score, depending on their particular circumstance when they file.
What to Consider
There’s a few other considerations that are important before you file a bankruptcy case. One is that honesty and disclosure are the most important parts of filing bankruptcy. That pertains to your income, all the assets that you own, and all the debts that you owe. Another important consideration is that bankruptcy petitions, and other bankruptcy filings are made available to the public. Another thing that you may want to consider is that you’re not necessarily going to lose your property if you file a bankruptcy case.
The Process
A typical bankruptcy filing in our office usually first involves a phone call, where we talk about your general circumstances. Then we would set up an appointment to meet with you in person and to pull your credit report, because we rely on your credit report to determine the names, addresses, and the debts of all your creditors. If there’s anybody that does not appear on your credit report, we rely on you to provide that to us. Once we’ve met and we’ve decided on a course of action, whether that be filing a Chapter 7 case or Chapter 13 and what the terms of those cases are, we will fill out the bankruptcy petition paperwork, then it will take us approximately one to two days to prepare your petition for you to sign. Then we will set up another appointment with you and we will review your petition together to determine if there are any mistakes, errors, or omissions in your paperwork. If there are, we’ll make those corrections, and then you will sign the petition and your signature is made under penalty of perjury. Once you’ve signed your petition and all the mistakes are corrected, we’ll file the petition with the court. At that time you will be assigned a bankruptcy case number and you will have the protection of the bankruptcy case.
Reasons To File
Many people are intimidated by bankruptcy, what they don’t realize is it’s very common. Life events such as divorce, job loss, car repossession, injury, illness, can cause financial loss. It can also cause bills to pile up that are simply impossible to pay. What people need to understand is that there’s no shame in filing bankruptcy.
