Bankruptcy

How to File Bankruptcy ? #2 of a Series

By David Leibowitz, Illinois and Wisconsin Bankruptcy

People think it’s easy to file bankruptcy.  You’d be surprised how many people try to do it themselves.  And even more people pay so-called “petition preparers” who say that they know how to do it for them.  Usually, they mess up.  We spent an entire article discussing just how to fill out the first page of a bankruptcy petition!

Now, to continue to show you just how easy it is, I’m going to go through the things you need to thing about on page 2 of your bankruptcy petition.

Just for the fun of it, here’s a link to the official form for a bankruptcy petition so that you can follow along.

The first thing you have to mention on page 2 is whether you’ve filed a bankruptcy case anyplace during the past 8 years. This includes any case which you have filed, no matter what the outcome.  Don’t mess this one up.  If you filed a bankruptcy case and got a bankruptcy discharge in the past 8 years in chapter 7, you won’t get another one now.  And if you filed a bankruptcy case in the past 4 years and got a discharge, you can’t get a discharge in chapter 13 either.  Of course, this all presumes you know what a discharge is and the differences between chapter 7 and chapter 13.

Next, you have to list any pending bankruptcy case for your spouse, partner or affiliate.  You know what those terms mean, right?  If so, please enter the name of the case, the case number, the district and the judge handling the case along with the relationship that the other person or entity has with you.  Clear on that?  Great you can go on to the next part.

Of course that’s going to require another blog for another day.  Stay tuned.

Full post as published by Bankruptcy Law Network on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).