Free Official Bankruptcy Court Forms
You’ve discussed the possibility of declaring bankruptcy with your family in detail, and feel as though you are willing to make the decision. However, you have several questions about the bankruptcy process, and do not want to spend hundreds of dollars getting advice from an attorney. There are some places that will allow you to receive free bankruptcy case evaluation, so that you can be educated about the process as you are working to improve your financial health.
Before you download your Chapter 13 filing forms, you will want to realize what type of bankruptcy you’re filing for. If you’re looking for a loan consolidation type of program, you may want to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This will block creditors from calling, and will prevent you from facing foreclosure or wage garnishments. You submit your repayment plan to the bankruptcy court, and you’ll be assigned a plan that will allow you to settle your debts in 3-5 years. The court will issue an automatic stay for you, which means that this will stop all creditors from taking any more action on your accounts. About a month after the ruling, you’ll be required to go to a 341 meeting that will last for about fifteen minutes. This meeting will allow your lenders to challenge whether or not you can pay your debts. The lenders will usually ask if you can pay at least 50 cents on the dollar, and if you are not able to do so, they won’t object to your bankruptcy.
You will also need to find out if free Chapter 7 bankruptcy forms are available from a local court if you’re going to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This will allow you to have all your properties arranged according to what you can pay. You’ll still have to attend a 341 meeting for this type of bankruptcy so work with your creditors as much as possible to come up with a solution.
It’s a good idea to take free bankruptcy case evaluation offers online. In most cases, your first consultation will be free, so be sure to have as much information as you can at the first meeting so that you can continue the filing process on your own if need be. You can also choose to file bankruptcy yourself if you want to save on legal costs.
Before you fill out and send in your bankruptcy documents, it is crucial to make sure that you take a serious look at your finances to find out if there are any consolidation tools that you and your family can put into place without legal help. Bankruptcy should be your last resort, but it can help you to restore your credit successfully.