The bankruptcy process starts with the filing of a petition. In the petition you list all your assets as well as your liabilities. I typically pull a credit report from all three credit bureaus and then review with my clients to ensure that all debts are in there since some creditors don’t necessarily list them with the credit bureaus(personal debts, pay day loans etc, medical debts that aren’t too old etc). In the petition we have to be thorough to be sure that we listed any kind of financial transactions that the trustee would be interested in knowing about. This could include paying back preferred creditors, selling a home within a year and other important financial events. You have to take a mandatory credit counseling class which you can do online before you can file. Most importantly is the pre-bankruptcy preparations that I go through with my clients to make sure all their property is protected and that they are filing at the right time. We have to calculate your income for the last six months to make sure that you qualify for a chapter 7 and if you are well over the median income then we have to do a 13 or some pre-bankruptcy planning to squeeze you into a chapter 7. If you have any questions please call me or fill out your name and I will get back with you to see whether filing for bankruptcy is your best solution.
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