Corporations and partnerships must have an attorney to file a bankruptcy case. Individuals may represent themselves, although it can be very difficult to do so successfully. When you represent yourself, the court will not give you any special consideration. You will be expected to know and follow all pertinent rules of federal procedure, the more specialized rules of bankruptcy procedure, and the local rules of the court where you file.
Procedural rules are just the beginning. You will also be expected to know enough about property, contract, domestic relations, landlord-tenant and other substantive laws in your state to make a complete and accurate disclosure of all your assets, secured and unsecured debts, executory contracts, priority claims, and exempt property, and to respond to the objections or inquiries of your creditors or other parties in interest. You will be expected to know the substantive federal law of bankruptcy as it applies to your particular case, including, among many other things, what kinds of debts are dischargeable, whether and how to reaffirm debts, whether liens can be avoided, which kinds of debts are subject to cram down, and what the effect of the automatic stay is with regard to all kinds of creditor actions. This is the stuff bankruptcy attorneys are made of, and you shouldn’t file without one. When you find yourself in a difficult spot and don’t know what to do, neither the bankruptcy judge nor the court clerk will give you legal advice.
A bankruptcy case must be filed and handled correctly. The rules are very technical, and some misstep can affect your rights. For example, a debtor whose case is dismissed for failure to file a required document, such as a credit counseling certificate, may lose the right to file another case or lose protections in a later case, including the benefit of the automatic stay.
If you miss a deadline, fail to perform a required task, or fail to respond properly to the action of a creditor or other party in interest, your bankruptcy case can be dismissed, you can be denied a discharge or debts, or you can lose property which you might otherwise have been entitled to keep. If you are denied a discharge of debts or your case is dismissed, you will walk away from bankruptcy with all your debts intact plus derogatory bankruptcy information on your credit history.
Bankruptcy debtors must list all property and debts in their bankruptcy schedules, but what is “property” and what is “debt” are not always cut and dry. If you fail to list a debt, whether intentionally or unintentionally, it may not be discharged and that defeats the purpose and benefit of bankruptcy.
You can be denied a discharge of all debts if you act dishonestly in connection with your bankruptcy case, such as by destroying or hiding property or falsifying records. Unfortunately, what constitutes “destroying” or “hiding” or “falsifying” for purposes of a bankruptcy is not always intuitive or obvious to a person untrained in the law. Individual bankruptcy cases are randomly audited to determine the accuracy, truthfulness, and completeness of the information provided. Bankruptcy fraud is a federal crime.
If you do not get competent legal advice before you file, you may think that bankruptcy is your best option, only to discover when it’s too late that there was no need to file or that you could have taken a less drastic but equally effective route to debt relief. Without legal assistance, you may file a bankruptcy when it’s too late to prevent the loss of an important asset like a home or car. Or you may file too soon for certain debts to be discharged. Whether to file and when to file are significant issues that should be addressed to legal counsel.
If banks or credit card companies object to the discharge of your debts, rest assured they have teams of experienced attorneys on call. If you file under Chapter 13, getting a plan that is in your best interests approved by the court involves negotiating and sometimes litigating with creditors and their attorneys. If you own a home or other valuable property it is especially unwise to represent yourself in bankruptcy.
Simply deciding whether to file under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, or whether to file at all, requires in-depth legal analysis. Before you make a decision, please accept our offer to provide a Free 30-Minute Consultation with a bankruptcy attorney in your area.
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