What Forms Are Required To File For Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?
In order to file bankruptcy, official bankruptcy forms must be used. You may also need procedural forms. In April 1, 2007 certain dollar amounts in the Bankruptcy Code were adjusted. In consequence, some Bankruptcy Official Forms were amended. The whole set of forms (including the ones amended in 2007) are available for download free of charge on the United States Bankruptcy Court' site (http://www.uscourts.gov/bkforms/ ). We do have a form dedicated to every case of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. For example we have · The Individual or Joint Debtor No Asset Case form · The Individual or Joint Debtor Asset Case form. Etc.. The first form that we will take in discussion is the "voluntary petition", designed to declare bankruptcy. This is the first document you have to fill out, in order to begin the bankruptcy case. Filing the petition also means stopping the creditors from collecting their debts. The filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case requires the "voluntary petition", as well as the filing of schedules listing the debtor's property and debts, a statement of the current monthly income by all individual debtors with primarily consumer debts, a statement of financial affairs, and several other documents. A complete list of the documents required to file a chapter 7, 11, 12, or 13 bankruptcy cases can be found in Procedural Form B 200 also called "Required Lists, Schedules, Statements and Fees". This form is available for download or printing under "Procedural Forms and Instructions" in the bankruptcy forms section of the Judiciary's website at http://www.uscourts.gov/bkforms/. In the same time with filing a petition, it is recommended to also file schedules as well as the other documents required in order to solve the case. If any of these forms are not ready, the law allows 15 days for completing and filing most of them. Yet, there is a list of documents that must accompany the petition: the individual debtor's statement of social security number, the mailing list, and documentation concerning preterition credit counseling. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy case filed by someone, whose debts are primarily consumer debts, can start only if the clerk has previously given that individual a written notice. This document should contain a short description of chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13 and the general costs, benefits and purpose of proceeding under each one of them, along with a brief description of the types of services available from credit counseling agencies. Filling out the forms concerning the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a difficult and pretty long process so you may want to ask an attorney for his professional opinion. For him, the whole process of filling out forms is a common one so the fees for helping or advising are not really elevated. There are also internet sites which offer you this kind of help as well as books written on the same subject. For a lawyer, the whole process is pretty common so the fees for his help are not really elevated. |
