Law Firm of Wendy R Morgan

- Bankruptcy -

Preamble - Chapter 7 - Chapter 13 - Prerequiste

- SOME PREREQUISTES TO FILING -

1. STOP USING YOUR CREDIT CARDS
Once you have decided to file for bankruptcy, you should not use your credit cards nor incur any additional credit from that point forward. Any recent purchases or recent cash advances can be held still due and owing after you file for bankruptcy. The rational is that you never intended to pay those debts back and is therefore, tantamount to fraud. If you're seeking a fresh start, do your best to insure that you will in fact receive that fresh start. The credit card issuers are very aware of attempts to run-up charges on credit cards. This also applies to cash advances. If you take a cash advance too close to filing bankruptcy, you are likely to see an objection from the particular credit card issuer. The objection comes in the form of an adversarial complaint. If the creditor is successful in their objection, the amount of the recent advance(s) will be held due and owing after your bankruptcy case.

2. PROVIDE YOUR MOST RECENT PAY ADVICES
You must provide the most recent 60 days worth of paycheck stubs at the time your case is filed. These will be forwarded to your assigned bankruptcy trustee or may be filed with the Clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. This measure is in place to make sure that the amount listed on the petition for monthly income is in fact accurate. If you receive income from a source other than employment, evidence of that income must be provided just as if is was a paycheck stub. Once you are aware that you are likely going to file bankruptcy, keep copies of all of your paycheck stubs in an organized manner.

3. TAKE THE REQUIRED CREDIT COUNSELING COURSE
Before a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case can be filed, you must take a credit counseling briefing from an approved credit counseling agency. This credit counseling briefing can be done on the internet or on the telephone. The entire briefing typically takes less than one hour and at the time of this writing costs approximately $50.00. The credit counseling briefing requires that you provide information as to your monthly income and expenses as well as a listing of your creditors. We have the lists of the approved facilities for this counseling.

4. GET YOUR PAPERWORK IN ORDER
Collect all your statements from your creditors. Obtain complete addresses of creditors who may have stopped billing you. Check the balances at financial institutions where you bank. Look at your recent tax returns to provide your gross income over the past three years. Basically, get to know your assets and liabilities and have them written out and organized for your lawyer to prepare your case. Gather a listing of all of your debts. Once you know that you are going to file, start to save all correspondence that arrives from creditors, collection agencies or others who are trying to collect on a debt. The disclosure requirements have become more stringent so you want to make sure that your have forwarded all of your creditor information to your attorney. If you are unsure of exactly who you may owe, you may want to consider acquiring a copy of your most recent credit reports. Each year you may request a free copy of your credit reports from the three major credit bureau reporting companies. Those are Trans Union, Equifax and Experian and they can be obtained by going to www.annualcreditreport.com. Even if you are unaware of the creditors listed on your reports, provide those to your attorney anyway. When you seek credit after your bankruptcy filing for either a mortgage, auto loan, or personal loan, you want to be able to show that all of the items on your credit reports were listed and discharged in your bankruptcy case.

5. FILE YOUR TAXES
You must file your most recent year's taxes to qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief. Although this seems like a simple requirement, you would be amazed at the number of individuals who have not filed their most recent taxes. A copy of the return will be forwarded to your assigned bankruptcy trustee after your case is filed. You must also provide your most recent tax return to any creditor who requests it. As your attorneys we will need your last three tax returns for the case.

Call 24/7
Locally - 847-259-5700
or
Toll Free - 1(800) WR MORGAN / 1(800) 976-6742
for more information

- Office Hours 8:30 am to 5:30 pm CST -

- Evening Appointments Available -