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1. Meet with an experience bankruptcy attorney to discuss your income, expenses and assets to determine if bankruptcy is the best course of action to stop the stress and burden of unmanageable debt. All of our consultations are free and with an experienced attorney, not an unlicensed paralegal of legal assistant. If bankruptcy is the best course of action, then you will retain us to represent you in your bankruptcy case, review and sign retention agreement and pay an initial retainer of $50 - $100.
2. Now that you have retained our services you will pay remainder of the attorney fees, stop using credit cards, stop making payments on debts that are dischargeable and refer creditors to you to answer their questions. Hopefully your creditors will leave you alone once they know you have retained us and will be filing bankruptcy.
3. Once all of our attorney fees are paid in full, it is time for you to provide us with all of the documents we need to draft your petition for bankruptcy. When you retain us we provide you with a list of the documents we will need. You must also complete the Credit Counseling course (On-line with follow up phone call) with an approved provider. The Credit Counseling course must be completed before the bankruptcy case can be filed.
4. Once we have all of the documents we need, it generally takes us 10 – 14 days to draft a completed and accurate petition. After the petition is complete we will schedule an appointment for you to review and sign the completed petition.
5. The petition will then be filed with the court and the automatic stay will take effect stopping any and all collection action including foreclosures, lawsuits, repossessions, garnishments and levies.
6. The next step is to provide any additional documents that the trustee assigned to your case may require. These documents are due at least seven days prior to the date of the meeting of the creditors. The meeting of the creditors is the only appearance you have to make and is usually schedule approximately 30 – 45 days after the bankruptcy case is filed. We will appear with your and the trustee assigned to your case will ask you a series of questions under penalty of perjury; you will receive notice of the 341 hearing in the mail directly from the bankruptcy court.
7. Section 341 meeting of the creditors is attended and concluded.
8. You now must complete the second course, Financial Management (On-line with follow phone call) from an approved provider.
9. YOU HAVE NOW SUCCESSFULLY completed all the steps necessary to discharge your unmanageable debt and receive a fresh start. The bankruptcy court will enter the order discharging your debts in approximately 60 – 90 days after the conclusion of the Section 341 meeting of the creditors.
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