Much of the work in your bankruptcy is completed prior to your case actually being filed with the bankruptcy court. Once the decision has been made to move forward, you will be given a questionnaire to fill out that covers all of your debts, income, assets, and financial history. It is vital to the process that you disclose all assets and all debts accurately in the early stages of bankruptcy. You will also be asked to get documents together such as tax returns, bank statements, and pay stubs.

After you submit your pre-filing "homework", we will use it to prepare the bankruptcy petition and schedules. The bankruptcy petition is a document that contains information such as your name, address, and any prior bankruptcies. The schedules contain information on your assets, debts, income, and monthly expenses. Before your bankruptcy case is filed, you and your attorney will review the petition and schedules for any errors.

You must obtain a certificate from an approved credit counseling agency before we can file your case. As part of our service, we will register you to take this course online, send you course instructions, submit confirmation of completion to the court, and will pay for it on your behalf. All you need to do is take the course online.

We file your bankruptcy petition and related schedules (which you have signed under penalty of perjury) with the Court.  After we file your case, the court assigns a case number and notifies the creditors listed on your petition. The court also enters an "Automatic Stay" order prohibiting your creditors from taking or continuing any collection or legal action against you. This means no more harassing letters or phone calls while your case is in progress. A Bankruptcy Trustee is also assigned at the time your case is filed.

Approximately 30 days after your case is filed, you will be required to go to the Bankruptcy Court to attend the Meeting of Creditors. It is usually a very simple meeting and generally lasts 5-10 minutes per debtor. The meeting is presided over by the assigned Bankruptcy Trustee. You will not appear before a judge.

The Bankruptcy Code provides that creditors and the trustee are to have an opportunity to ask questions. It is rare that a creditor will actually make an appearance at the Meeting of Creditors. The trustee will place you under oath and ask questions about your bankruptcy filing. Most of these questions are centered on the truthfulness of your documents and information as well as any transfer of assets.

We send an attorney to attend this meeting with all clients and are there to answer any questions a client may have. While the Meeting of Creditors is an important day and something that must be taken seriously, it is nothing to lose sleep over.

Your creditors have until 60 days after the date first set for your meeting with the Trustee to file a complaint objecting to the discharge of their debt, or to your entire discharge (see above). Grounds for doing this include fraud (such as incurring charges on a credit card that you did not intend or have the reasonable ability to repay at the time they were made), false statements on a credit application, fraud while acting in a fiduciary capacity, willful or malicious injury to a person or property of a person, and certain others. Creditors can seek an extension of time to file their complaint, but as long as they received notice of your bankruptcy case, they must either file their complaint, or a motion requesting an extension prior to the expiration of the 60-day period.

In most cases no objections are filed. However, if a creditor does file a complaint, there will be a trial. You will need to consult with an attorney at that point to decide whether you wish to defend the action, settle it, or just let it go to default judgment. Usually, the matter can be settled or even pre-empted.

The Trustee has until 30 days after the date first set for your meeting with him/her to file an objection to any exemptions you have claimed. Again, this is rare, but it can happen depending on the specific exemptions you need to use in your case. You should consult with your attorney about the likelihood of this happening in your case.

For cases filed after 10/17/05, you are required to complete a financial management course before receiving your discharge.    In Chapter 7 cases, you must have completed this course (usually about 2 hours) and submitted the certificate of completion to the court no later than 45 days after the date first set for your meeting with the Trustee.  If you fail to do this, you will NOT get a discharge.  This course can also be done over the internet or by phone, and costs between $19 and $50.

The moment you've been waiting for! If nobody objects to your discharge within the 60 day period referenced above, and you have completed all the other requirements, then you will automatically get your Notice of Discharge in the mail shortly thereafter (usually within 4-6 weeks after expiration of the 60-day period). This notice basically provides that you are discharged from all dischargeable debts. Certain debts are not dischargeable, such as child support, alimony, certain taxes, student loans, and some others. If you are uncertain as to which of your debts will be discharged, you should consult with your attorney.

The discharge applies to all dischargeable debts which you scheduled in your bankruptcy papers and which received notice of your bankruptcy filing. If a creditor did not receive notice, they MAY be able to reopen your case and still challenge the discharge of their debt later on. Whether they can do this depends on a number of factors, including what the basis of their discharge objection is, whether assets were distributed in your case, and a few others.

It is important to understand that the discharge has nothing to do with the Trustee's obligation to liquidate (i.e. sell) any non-exempt assets that you may have. Your case can remain open for years after your discharge if the Trustee is taking actions on any of your assets or seeking to recover preferential payments you may have made to creditors.

In order to help you with cleaning up and rebuilding credit, Nicastro Piscopo, APLC offers free Credit Correction courses for its bankruptcy clients.