Legally you are not required to hire an attorney to declare bankruptcy, however, you will probably want one. While it is possible to represent yourself in bankruptcy court, the laws are complicated. A missing form or an incorrect calculation, could get your case thrown out of court and you could lose all or some of the protection that bankruptcy offers.
Complicated New Bankruptcy Laws
The new bankruptcy laws were passed in 2005 and were meant to curb bankruptcy abuse. Over the last 25 years, there has been an increase in the numbers of bankruptcy and this costs everyone. The old laws did not require that you qualify for bankruptcy and it was believed that people who could afford to pay back their debts were declaring bankruptcy to avoid them.
The new laws require that you qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If after applying certain tests to your income and bills, you do not ‘pass’, you will have to file a Chapter 13 or reorganization. There is also a consumer credit education requirement. You are also required to take a credit counseling class prior to filing and another afterwards. These are available online but they do need to be approved or they do not qualify.
Online Or Self Bankruptcy Filing Services
There are several online filing services. I am not going to mention them here because I do not know enough about them to recommend them. I have searched for references but have been unable to locate any that are not on their website.
Most of these services are forms services. They basically gather the information online and transfer it to the bankruptcy forms. This would certainly help you in getting the information organized but these services cannot give you advice about whether you can claim a debt or whether certain property is exempt.
While bankruptcy is declared and filed in Federal court, every state has laws which may override the Federal laws. On top of that, each bankruptcy court has local or standing rules which affect what can and cannot be done in that particular court.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that you are not required to have an attorney to file bankruptcy. The truth is that you will be far better off investing the money in a qualified bankruptcy attorney. I figure that I have made enough mistakes in my financial life, I do not want to make another one. If you are considering declaring bankruptcy, I would recommend that you find the best bankruptcy attorney that you can.
This post is part of a series of posts on debt relief and bankruptcy. If you have enjoyed this article, please see related articles below for more information on Bankruptcy.
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Tags: bankruptcy, debt relief
As someone who has filed a BK, I can tell you it is dammed stressful, my attorney, actually his paralegal who seemed to do most of the work, really were a God send. I had a few glitches with the filing and with the Trustee. I know I blogged about some of the issues I had with the filing process and their office, but he attorney was well worth the cost. Think carefully about doing this all on your own…