Tips to make Bankruptcy successful

Bankruptcy is not an easy decision and the events that lead up to making that decision are streesful to say the least. Between the colleciton calls, wage garnishments, creditors, house payments, and everything else (not forgetting just living day by day) I decided to write down a few tips to make the process easier.

1.     GATHER YOUR DOCUMENTS

 This one takes the most work. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition consists of about 75-90 pages of documents. These documents contain information about your income, assets, expenses, debts, and financial transactions. The amount of information required is extensive. 

 If your Bankrutpcy lawyer asks you to provide informaiton such as dates/dollar amounts, do your best to provide the actual informaiton. Bankruptcy cannot be performed on guesses and assumptions. If I ask you when did you sell the car and for how much...your answer should be "August, 2012 for $3,800 to Jim Bob"...not...."Well, I think two or three years ago for about 3 bills"
The more information I have the better your bankrutpcy will go. But you knew that already, just gathering the documents and providing my office with everything will allow us to protect your assets and have a clear picture of the whole situation.

2.     DISCLOSE EVERYTHING.....

Remember, there is such thing as Lawyer-Client privledge. Please remember that when I ask you about your assets. If I do not know about them I cannot do my job properly and protect them.

There are many ways to protect assets, but again, this is assuming you told me about them. Disclose, Disclose, Disclose.......and Disclose.

 

 3.     RESPOND WITH INFORMATION WHEN ASKED

 The Court, Trustee, or my office may and probably wil ask for stuff - and this goes without saying (or at least it should) when asked for stuff bring it to us asap. Trust me, I never ask for things I do not need for some reason or another.

4.     DO NOT DELAY IN WAITING TO SPEAK TO A BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY

 Before you start withdrawing money from a retirement account, IRA, 401k, or other plan to pay your creditors...talk to RAXTER LAW for a free bankrutpcy consultation. Once you remove funds from a protected account it will be subject to a creditors and will lose all protection. People have good intentions when they drawdown their accounts in an efforts to pay creditors, but in some circumstances this only delays the inevitable. Do not let your family be faced with the situation where you have withdrawn your retirements accounts, and still have to declare bankrutpcy.