Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Procedures

After filing your bankruptcy petition in the bankruptcy court, you will need to go through some certain procedures until your debts are finally discharged.  You officially start your bankruptcy petition by filing your bankruptcy papers but even before that, during the preparation of your bankruptcy papers, you need to do things the right way.  Preparing your papers is no child’s play.  You have to be aware of what you are doing, especially, if you prepare your papers without any professional help.  Mistakes in your papers can be costly in the end.  A person can lose a lot of assets this way.

The first step in chapter 7 bankruptcy procedures is filing your bankruptcy papers in the bankruptcy court.  You will physically bring your bankruptcy forms in the court and file them.  Some people think they can do this online but there is no online bankruptcy court where you can file as of now.  After the petition has been filed, the bankruptcy court will then send a mail to your creditors notifying them of your bankruptcy filing.  After this, the bankruptcy court will assign a bankruptcy trustee for your case.  This person is a crucial part in your bankruptcy procedure and you will have to hand over your latest tax return to your assigned bankruptcy trustee.

After providing your tax return, you will have to go through a process called means test that you need to pass in order to continue with your bankruptcy procedure.  The bankruptcy trustee will either convert your bankruptcy chapter 7 to a chapter 13, amends other legal requirements or decline your bankruptcy.  This depends on the result of your means test.  If your income is less than the average income with regard to the state that you live in, it is more likely that you will pass the means test and continue with your bankruptcy process.

Then a meeting of creditors will be held and you will be questioned by the bankruptcy trustee about your finances and about the information you provide in your bankruptcy petition.  Sometimes creditors will attend this and this can be the only time that they would show themselves.  This meeting probably lasts about a few minutes only.

Negotiations are then made by the bankruptcy trustee with regards to your properties.  This is all about separating the nonexempt properties from the exempt properties.  You have to hand over to the bankruptcy trustee all your properties that are considered nonexempt.  These properties will be used in paying your creditors.  Other debts that were not paid after the liquidation are said to be forgiven and you are not obliged to pay for it anymore.

The last thing that will happen in a chapter 7 bankruptcy procedures is the bankruptcy court granting the discharge of your debts and closing your case.  This is the commencement date of your bankruptcy status in which, for a chapter 7, will last for 8 years before you can get your bankruptcy status discharged or file another type of bankruptcy.  For more support on how to file bankruptcy, visit the link below.