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FAQ
What happens if I
file a chapter 7 bankruptcy?
Who can file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy
petition?
Should you file for a Chapter 7
bankruptcy?
What is a chapter 13 bankruptcy
petition?
Will the bankruptcy stop bill
collectors from calling?
How long after filing will the creditors
stop calling?
Should you hire an attorney for your
bankruptcy?
Who deals with my creditors and bill
collectors during the bankruptcy?
Will my employer and landlord find out
about my bankruptcy?
Can my employer fire me for filing
bankruptcy?
Can I go to jail if I file bankruptcy or
don't pay my debts?
Does the spouse of a married person also
have to file bankruptcy?
Can I keep any credit cards?
Will I have to fill out forms?
Will I have to go to court?
What are the alternatives to
bankruptcy?
What should I do to to file
bankruptcy?
Can I file a
bankruptcy for my debts, but not include my assets?
Can I file bankruptcy to
delay a creditor?
Will I lose my assets by filing
bankruptcy?
ANSWERS
What happens
if I file a chapter 7 bankruptcy?
A chapter 7 bankruptcy is commenced by filing a petition and 30 or
more pages of additional paperwork detailing your financial
situation. Immediately upon filing, your creditors are prohibited
from bothering you or attempting to collect on the debts. A trustee
is appointed by the court to review your filing and to recommend to
the court that your debts be discharged, that is, wiped out. About 4
to 5 weeks after filing, you have to appear for a trustee meeting
which is mostly a formality. You will usually receive your discharge
about four months after the trustee meeting.
Who can file
a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition?
Anyone can file a chapter 7 bankruptcy.
What is a
chapter 13 bankruptcy petition?
A chapter 13 bankruptcy provides you up to three years to pay off
your debts. The payments are made through a court appointed trustee.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy is generally not suitable for most people
since it does not give you a clean breakaway from your debts and
since may people who start with a chapter 13 end up filing a chapter
7 anyway. Chapter 13 tends to work for people who are facing
foreclosure on the house.
Should you
file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy?
Most people file chapter 7 bankruptcy because they are overextended
on any of the following: Credit card debts, medical bills,
collection accounts, lawsuits, judgments and more. If you can pay
your bills without problems, then bankruptcy is not for you. On the
other hand, if you are facing serious financial problems, then
filing chapter 7 bankruptcy is nothing to be ashamed of.
Will
bankruptcy stop bill collectors from calling?
Yes. Bankruptcy will stop all the phone calls and all the
harassment. When you file bankruptcy, the court clerk sends a notice
to all your creditors notifying them and telling them to leave you
alone. It works this exact way even if you are not represented by an
attorney. You do not need to hire an attorney if your goal is to
stop the harassment and wipe out your debts.
How long after
filing will the creditors stop calling?
If you want your creditors to stop calling you today, it is
possible. We can prepare your bankruptcy in under one day and the
moment the court files it, your creditors must stop calling you.
After filing, the court will give you a case number and you can give
that number to any bill collector who calls and that will be their
last call. The court also sends out a notice to all of them in any
case.
Should you
hire an attorney for your bankruptcy?
You are allowed to file bankruptcy without an attorney. For most
people, filing bankruptcy is about preparing dozens of pages of
paperwork that have more to do with accounting than with law.
Nonetheless, if you own a business or have a complicated situation,
it will not hurt to get advice from an attorney first before having
us prepare your documents. We prepare the same documents that a
attorney would and frankly, we prepare more bankruptcies in one
month than most attorney prepare in a lifetime, and all adds up to
invaluable experience and quality. Mind you, we are not claiming to
be attorneys.
Who deals with
my creditors and bill collectors during the bankruptcy?
If you have a secured debt such as your auto payment or mortgage
that you want to keep on paying, you can continue to make the
payments as usual. As for all other creditors, the bankruptcy
they are wiped out and you never have to pay them again. As for
dealing with the creditors during the bankruptcy process, the
bankruptcy court and the trustee deal with them, not you.
Will my employer and landlord find out about
my bankruptcy?
Though bankruptcy is public record, the court does not notify your
employer or landlord unless you listed them as creditors on the
bankruptcy documents. By law, you cannot be fired or discriminated
against because you filed bankruptcy.
Can my
employer fire me for filing bankruptcy?
No. You cannot be fired for filing bankruptcy.
Can I go to
jail if I file bankruptcy or don't pay my debts?
No. You cannot go to jail for not paying your debts or for filing
bankruptcy. If that were possible, half of the country would be in
jail.
Does the
spouse of a married person have to file bankruptcy?
If you are married, your spouse does not have to file bankruptcy.
You can file bankruptcy as an individual or you can file one joint
bankruptcy. If you decide to file one joint bankruptcy with your
spouse, we do not charge you extra for your spouse as others do.
Can I keep any credit cards?
Yes. You can keep any credit cards you want so long as you arrange
it with the credit card company. It is not usually a good idea to
keep credit cards debts that you can walk away from, but if that is
what you want, it is quite easy to do. We provide resources to our
customers that will enable you to do so.
Will I
have to fill out forms?
No. You will not have to fill out the 30 or 40 pages of forms that
it takes to file bankruptcy. We will do all that for you and we will
guarantee that the court clerk will accept it or your money back.
Will I have
to go to court?
No. You will not have to go to court. You will however have to
attend a trustee meeting approximately 30 to 40 days after filing.
You do not need to be represented by an attorney at the meeting and
if you have an attorney anyway, he or she will have very little to
do there. The meeting lasts only a few minutes, sometimes even
seconds. After this meeting, you will receive a discharge notice and
that is it.
What
are the alternatives to bankruptcy?
There are alternatives to filing bankruptcy but debt consolidation
or credit counseling is not a good one. If you reach the point of having
to file bankruptcy, usually, nothing else will make sense. Either
pay your debts or file bankruptcy.
What should I do to to file bankruptcy?
You need to turn over your bills to us and have us prepare your
bankruptcy documents. Filing bankruptcy is mainly about preparing
the documents and we will do that for you. Your part is to give us
the bills and then to sign the finished documents that we return to
you. It is the easies way to file bankruptcy.
Can I file a
bankruptcy for my debts, but not include my assets?
No. Filing bankruptcy is about being honest. Though the trustee does
not know what assets you have and will usually not undertake to find your
assets, you are required to make a complete and true disclosure of
your assets. When we prepare your bankruptcy documents, we do so
only with the information that you give us. It is your
responsibility to give us your correct information.
Can I file bankruptcy to
delay a creditor?
Many debtors file bankruptcy to delay foreclosure or eviction and it
works, but
that is not a good reason for filing. If you file bankruptcy, do so in
good faith and do not try to abuse the system.
Will I
lose my assets by filing bankruptcy?
Generally speaking, the answer is no. Bankruptcy allows you to
protect your property by applying exemptions to them. The idea is to
give you a new beginning, not strip you of the little you have. We
do not know of any of our many customers who have lost any property
to the trustee. While it is possible, it is very rare and we have
never seen it happen.
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