Lifestyle

Need to File for Bankruptcy? Here’s What You Need to Do

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The last thing a person wants to do is to file for bankruptcy, but in some cases, it becomes a necessity as it is the most effective way out of a financial crisis. The main benefit to filing for bankruptcy is that you get an automatic stay, which protects you from having to pay lenders or creditors. However, this rule only comes into effect once you have actually filed for bankruptcy and your case is underway in court. Prior to that, there are a number of things that you need to do to get your bankruptcy case into court. These are some of the steps you need to take to get to that stage.

Documentation

There is a lot of paperwork involved in filing for bankruptcy. Regardless of the degree of your financial crisis or where you are filing for bankruptcy, you can be sure that there will be more paperwork involved than you had anticipated. When putting your documents together, some of the most important things to consider are your tax returns, your income history for the past 6 months, your credit score, statements for all accounts, and documentation regarding any assets you own, debt you owe, or income you earn. The court is looking to get a clear image of what your financial situation looks like to declare bankruptcy for your case. The easier you can make this process for them, the faster you will be able to process your case.

Professional Help

A lot of people try to go through with their bankruptcy cases without any help and not many get the results that they want. You can do it on your own but it takes a lot of preparation and if some part of the process catches you off guard you will be spending a lot of time trying to figure out a solution. It’s best to get a local expert, someone who knows the local laws, to help you get through this process. If you are in the USA, laws vary from state to state so a Florida Bankruptcy Lawyer is perfect for people in that state. If you live somewhere else then you will need someone who is a professional in that specific area to get the best results. With professional help, you can start the case with the best preparation and this will not only increase your chances of success but will also help you get done much more quickly.

Courses

To make yourself eligible for filing the case you also need to complete a credit counseling course that you can do from any authorized center. This is a short course at the end of which you will get a certificate of completion. When you go to file your documents in court it is necessary to file a copy of this certificate with your documents. Recently the course has been done online or via telephone, but get in touch with your local authorities to find out how they are doing it in your locality.

Going to court with a bankruptcy claim can take a while. Civil courts already have their hands full with a variety of other cases, so if it takes a few days or even weeks for your case to come to the table don’t be surprised. However, before you go through with filing it make sure you have done all your homework and that all your documents are prepared. Poor documentation will weaken your case and also cause it to take even longer than it needs to.

 

 

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