You can file bankruptcy yourself for free! Bankruptcy is when one needs to legally declare that he or she cannot pay their creditors. Filing for bankruptcy is a really big deal; if you are considering filing for bankruptcy you need to be serious about it and know what all it entails. If you have used all of your resources, sold all you can and are swimming up to your eyeballs in debt with no way to pay it all off then maybe bankruptcy is something worth considering. It is important to understand that if you file for bankruptcy your credit will be ruined for a decade or more; it will be virtually impossible to purchase a home or vehicle, open a bank account, get credit cards, receive insurance and it can even make it harder for you to find employment. Consider consulting with a bankruptcy lawyer or debt consolidation company for free before jumping in to anything.
Filing bankruptcy should be your very last choice! What you will need to do first is obtain credit counseling in a six month period before filing. The government requires credit counseling before filing and the counseling must be through an agency that has been approved by the government. They are listed by your state however; the company may not necessarily be located in your state. If you live in Alabama or North Carolina then bankruptcy cases are not under jurisdiction of the US Trustee program and you should check out your local bankruptcy administrator located online here: Bankruptcy Admin. There is a PDF file online with a complete list of credit counselors all over the country; it will be best to speak with as many/all resources possible. The PDF page is here: cclist.pdf. The law for receiving credit counseling before filing bankruptcy was placed October 17, 2005.
There are two different types of bankruptcy out there; chapter 7 and chapter 13. You can file bankruptcy yourself. Chapter 7 is when you need to sell all of your assets in order to pay your debt; any remaining debt is then erased. Chapter 13 is when you keep your property and pay off part of your debt over the course of three to five years.
If you have already lost all of your assets, you are totally broke and have consulted a credit counselor then you can probably go ahead and file for yourself.
Filing your petition can cost you thousands of dollars. Once you have all the paperwork together it is in your best interest to have a legal professional go over it for you to make sure everything has been done correctly. All you need to do at this point is find all the documents to be filled out to file.
After you have completed all of the paperwork and maybe sure that it has been filled out properly you may file the petition at a bankruptcy court near you. Once you have filed your creditors will be automatically alerted and legally must cease contact with you; if you are contacted give them your bankruptcy number and they will stop. Typically a claim is finished within four to six months of filing unless it was dismissed in which case your creditors may still contact you and you will remain in debt.
