 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
It all starts with a phone call to set you up with a totally FREE debt consultation
at one of our offices.....located in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Blaine & Brooklyn
Center. There is no charge or obligation for your free consultation.
Your Free Debt Consultation:
At your appointment, you will meet with an attorney to discuss your case. We
gather from you the information necessary to understand your situation,
including your goals, assets, debts, income and expenses. We analyze your
situation and tell you about your options and answer your questions and
concerns. We will tell you how bankruptcy works, what needs to be done before
you file, what it does and does not do, and what it costs. Whether or not
bankruptcy is an option for you....up to this point.....there is no obligation
whatsoever. That is....you are free to find out about your options and to get your
questions answered....for FREE ...and then leave.....no strings attached.
You might want to bring $50 with you, because that is all it takes to retain us in
most cases. Retaining us means hiring us. After you hie us, you can refer the
creditors to us and not talk to us. The $50 goes towards our fees, or course.
Gather the papers we need to prepare your bankruptcy:
Back at home, you will gather up for us all your bills, documents and other
information necessary to get your case filed. Once you know that filing
bankruptcy is right for you....this part of the process is fun. Why? Because...you
know...likely this will be the last time you will have to deal with these bills. You
see....after you make the decision to file bankruptcy....and as long as you follow
through with your filing.....It's like telling us: "Here are my bills....You deal with
them." Mail us all the bills, documents and other information you have put
together.
Your finish-up appointment and credit counselling
A few days after we receive your documents and papers, you come in for a
finish-up conference in our offices. At the conference we finish up your
bankruptcy petition, usually around 50 pages, and you review and sign it.
Normally we also arrange for you to do the required credit counselling course in
our offices at the same appointment to save you time.
Filing your case with the Court:
We file the final signed documents with the Court by electronic filing over the
internet. When your case is filed with the Court, the Court issues a court order
called the "automatic stay" that says nobody can do anything to collect a debt
from you. They can't sue you, they can't garnish, repossess, foreclose or
anything else. They can't even talk to you, and they certainly can't harass you.
If they violate the automatic stay, we can sue them for contempt of Court. The
creditors will leave you alone after the case is filed. If they didn't, the Court
would fine them.
The meeting of creditors (341 hearing):
About 30 days after we file your case, we will attend the Meeting of Creditors or
the 341 Hearing. This meeting is the creditor's opportunity to show up and ask
you questions. Mostly...however...creditors do NOT show up. Why? Because
bankruptcy protection is powerful and because the creditors know there is NOT
much they can do. In most cases...this meeting would be more appropriately
called "Meeting Your Trustee". You can think of your Trustee as a sort of
"bookkeeper/gatekeeper" for the Court. His job is to review the schedules filed
in your case and to examine you to make sure you told the "truth, the truth, and
the whole truth...so help you God". In most cases, that's all that happens at this
meeting. It is usually over in less than 5 minutes.
Financial Management course
In the month after our creditors meeting you need to complete a financial
management course. This takes about a half hour and is usually arranged by
our office. Most people find it gives them useful information and is usually
interesting.
Discharge:
About 3 months after we file your case, the Court issues your discharge. The
discharge is the court order that says you don't owe your bills. It goes further
and is a court order that forbids creditors from trying to collect. There are some
debts that Chapter 7 bankruptcy does not work on. These include child
support, student loans and most taxes.
The foregoing steps assume that everything in your case proceeds as originally
planned and anticipated, which is almost always the case.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
Step 5.
Step 6.
Step 7.
Step 8.