It is important to realize that changes may occur in this area of law. This information is not intended to be legal advice regarding your particular problem, and it is not intended to replace the work of an attorney.
When you are being overwhelmed by your debts, you may choose to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, often called a straight liquidation bankruptcy, gives you the opportunity to discharge, or be relieved of liability, for all or almost all of the debts you owe on the date you file your bankruptcy. You do not have to make any future payments on those debts that are discharged, and your creditors are stopped from attempting to collect those debts. There are some debts which cannot be discharged, such as criminal fines and alimony or child support. Other debts, such as taxes, student loans, and debts incurred as a result of your fraud, may not be dischargeable (depending on the circumstances). You can only file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy once every eight years.
When you file your bankruptcy, all of your property and income that you have on the date you file becomes subject to the claims of your creditors. However, you are entitled to protect, or exempt, certain property. If all of your property and income is protected, you will not lose any of your property in the bankruptcy. Some of the property which is exempt includes your interest in a car up to $2150, household furnishings, clothes, musical instruments, the federal earned income tax credit, a certain portion of wages, almost all government benefits, some bank accounts, and possibly the equity in your home.
What is the process for filing a Chapter 7 straight liquidation type
of bankruptcy?
Before you can file bankruptcy, you must complete a credit counseling
course. This course can be completed on the Internet or by telephone.
Depending on your financial situation, you may have to pay a fee. Once
you complete the course, you or your attorney prepare paperwork including
descriptions of what you own, the property that you want to exempt,
the names and addresses of your creditors and the amount you owe, your
current income and expenses, a statement concerning your financial
affairs and a statement of what you intend to do with the property
you used as collateral to secure consumer debts. You must include all
of the creditors that you know about, including friends and relatives.
You can find many of your creditors on your credit report. You can
get a free copy of your credit report once each 12 months at www.annualcreditreport.com.
All of your information must be prepared on forms that have been approved by the court. They are filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court, together with a filing fee. The filing fee is $299. (Note that this filing fee changes periodically.) Under some circumstances, if you cannot afford to pay the fee you can ask the court for a waiver of the fee. If you are not eligible for a waiver of the fee, you may always pay the filing fee in three installments over 84 days after filing. In that event you would not need to pay any fee at the time you file your bankruptcy.
Your bankruptcy is effective at the time you file it. Once you file your bankruptcy, the court will notify all of the creditors you have included with your petition that you have filed for bankruptcy, and will set a date, time and place for a hearing that is called the “meeting of creditors.” It is usually scheduled about 30 days after you file your bankruptcy petition. You must attend this hearing and answer questions under oath by the trustee and any creditors who appear. The questions are about your financial affairs, including your property, past earnings, and the forms you have filed. Your case may be dismissed if you fail to attend as scheduled.
No later than seven days before this hearing, you must provide a copy of your most recent federal tax return to the trustee, or a transcript which you can obtain from the Internal Revenue Service. Your case may be dismissed if you do not do this.
The trustee is appointed by the court and is the representative of your creditors. It is the duty of the trustee to determine whether you have properly completed all of the forms and listed all of your assets and your creditors, and whether there is some reason why he or she should ask the bankruptcy judge to deny your discharge. It is also the trustee’s duty to take possession and sell any of your non-exempt property, to examine claims creditors may file and determine whether they are proper, and to distribute any proceeds of that property among your creditors. You might be required to make further court appearances at the trustee’s request. Also, if anyone objects for any reason to your being discharged from all of your debts, or if any creditor objects to your being discharged from any particular debt, you will have to appear in court to defend your position. In the great majority of cases, these issues do not come up.
Within 45 days after the date of your meeting of creditors, you must complete a second counseling course to be eligible for a discharge. This course is on personal financial management. It can be completed on the Internet or by telephone. Depending on your financial situation, you may have to pay a fee.
If all of your assets are exempt, and no one objects to your discharge, you will receive your discharge from the debts about 90 days after the meeting of creditors.
You may wonder whether you need an attorney in order to file bankruptcy. If you are an individual or unincorporated sole proprietor, the law does not require you to have an attorney. However, completing all the required documents can be difficult. Also, the filing of a bankruptcy petition is only part of a program to regain financial health. If your petition is filed at the wrong time, you may find that the debts you hoped to have discharged are not discharged — and you will not be permitted to seek a discharge again for eight years.
Some of your property, which can be made exempt from being taken by the bankruptcy trustee, will be exempt only if you take certain steps to arrange your affairs before you file bankruptcy. Only an attorney can give you legal advice concerning your exemptions. You must request exemptions. Appropriate planning before your petition is filed can potentially save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in the long run. There may be other problems with respect to the discharge of certain debts. These debts should be discussed with an attorney before bankruptcy is filed because it may be unwise to file bankruptcy immediately, or it may be advisable to take other steps to resolve that particular indebtedness.
If you have pledged property to a creditor to secure a debt, then generally you must either pay for the property or give it back to the creditor. This is true even if the property is exempt. You may have to attend another hearing before the judge after you receive your discharge if you have worked out a deal with a secured creditor to keep some property, unless your attorney files the proper declaration as to each debt you want to pay off.
You can obtain more information about bankruptcy, including forms, by going to the Bankruptcy Court’s website at www.orb.uscourts.gov. You can also get a packet of information by calling the Bankruptcy Court at (503) 326-1500 or (541) 431-4000.
Legal Editor: Richard Slottee, Lewis & Clark Legal Clinic, November 2007