87 Things You Need to know Before You File Before You File

87 Things You Need to know Before You File Before You File

to Know Before You File

Bankruptcy

Written and Published by

Victoria Ring, Bankruptcy Paralegal

1601 W Fifth Avenue, #123 Columbus, Ohio USA Voice: (614) 486-7642 Fax: (614) 486-8840

updated April 22, 2002 email: victoria@victoriaring.com

website: http://www.bankruptcyparalegalservices.com

However, laws and procedures change frequently, and they can be interpreted differently by differentpeople For specific advice geared to your particular financial situation, consult a qualified bankruptcyattorney No book, software, or other published material is a substitute for personalized advice from aknowledgeable attorney licensed to practice law in your state.

An Important Message to Legal Professionals:

Since this book is provided free, you also have the author’s permission to reproduce it in any manneryou feel will benefit your client base All that is required is that you mail a copy to Victoria Ring, 1601

W Fifth Ave #123, Columbus OH 43212-2303 Also, please email or call Victoria at 614-486-7642 ifyou would like a version of this book printed that is customized with your name and address This bookmay also be distributed over the internet as a PDF document as long as it is it not offered for sale

Interested in Starting a Business?

If you would like to offer bankruptcy petition preparation services in your area, we have developed aprogram which allows you to make extra money from your home There is no cost to get started

Simply go to http://www.lawyerassistant.com to review our services for legal professionals Fill out

the online form and you will receive a free personalized set of bankruptcy intake forms, customizedwith your name and address Make copies of the forms, charge the fee allowable in your state as apetition preparer and send the forms to us for processing Some legal professionals using our servicecharge as much as $200, pay us $99.95 and make a healthy $100 profit from each petition Please callVictoria Ring at 614-486-7642 after you have reviewed the website if you are interested in performingthis service as a home business or add-on to your established practice

Earn a $15.00 Referral Bonus:

If you have a friend, relative or co-worker interested in filing bankruptcy, please make a copy of theforms in this book (starts on Page 16) and give them to fill out and return to us Be sure to write yourname and address on the “Referred By” line at the top of the GENERAL INFORMATION form When

we receive the petition with your name and address on the “Referred By” line, we send you a $15.00referral bonus check There is no limit to the number of referral checks you can receive, so if you likeour service get paid for it by referring clients to us

Who Will Benefit From This Information 1

Overview 1

Free Forms Included 2

Paid Services 2

How to Determine if you Should Hire Victoria Ring to Prepare Your Bankruptcy Petition 2

Summary of Skills and Experience of Victoria Ring 3

How Hard is it to File a Bankruptcy Petition? 4

Some Terms You Need to Know Concerning Bankruptcy 4

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy 6

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy 6

Changes in Payments During a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy 7

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy 7

Steps That Occur for Either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankrupcty 8

Other Facts that You Need to Know 8

Debts That Cannot Be Discharged 9

The First Steps in Preparing a Bankruptcy Petition 9

How Your Credit Will be Effected by Bankruptcy 11

Other General Questions and Answers 11

Websites to Help you Learn More About Bankruptcy 14

Summary 15

Information-Gathering Forms for the preparation of Your Bankruptcy Petition 19

Before Filing Bankruptcy

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM

THIS INFORMATION

This ebook that you downloaded from the

internet is dedicated to helping the following

types of people:

(a) Consumers — people who are

interested in learning more about bankruptcy

and/or interested in filing their own

bank-ruptcy petition

(b) Paralegals — legal professionals

working for an attorney/boss who is

consid-ering offconsid-ering bankruptcy services to clients

and is unfamiliar with some of the basic

procedures

(c) Attorneys — legal professionals

who do not normally offer bankruptcy

ser-vices to clients, but are interested in doing

so The forms included in this ebook can be

printed and used in your own law office as

master intake interview forms for your own

clients

OVERVIEW

A person just doesn’t wake up one morning

and say, “Hey, I think I will file bankruptcy

today.” Instead, it is normally a long process

of worry, struggle and guilt before people

reach this point However, the decision to file

bankruptcy is the legal right of every citizen

in the United States

To give you a quick history lesson — the

bankruptcy law is derived from the same

type of laws the Jewish nation enacted back

in the Old Testament period Every 7 years

their debts would be forgiven and they could

start fresh (It was called the “Year of

Jubi-lee.) These laws were not enacted because

the society wanted to be “nice and sweet to

people”; it was done because they knew that

keeping people under debt forever was notgood for their society as a whole By “forgiv-ing” debts every 7 years, those experiencingthe heavy burden of debt could now afford toput money back into the economy andhopefully stay out of debt so the problem didnot occur again — thereby causing thesociety as a whole to grow and prosper.Our United States government knows that ifthere is no way to forgive heavy, burden-some debts, many people will eventually end

up on welfare just to survive, thereby raisingtaxes, causing high unemployment, effectingprices and causing other companies to goout of business because the majority ofpeople couldn’t afford to buy their products

or much less, anything else — even if theywanted to This situation would eventuallycollapse the economy of our society

Therefore, don’t believe everything yourfriends, neighbors and high-pressured debtrelief companies tell you Instead, read theinformation in this ebook and ask questions

of competent bankruptcy attorneys who areavailable free of charge on the internet orthrough a group of legal professionals such

as Pre-Paid Legal (Most bankruptcy neys provide a free initial consultation, sofeel free to consult with one about yourparticular financial situation who practiceslaw in your state and jurisdiction.)

attor-Always remember that “fear of the unknown”

is a natural reaction for human beings whoare unsure about a subject However, thisebook was written to take the fear out of theword “bankruptcy.” Most importantly, it willeducate you so you can make a moreinformed decision about whether filingbankruptcy is in your best interest or not.Filing bankruptcy is not necessarily foreverybody, as you will soon see; and after

reading this ebook, you will be in a better

position to make an educated decision about

your present financial condition If you decide

to go ahead with the process of filing

bank-ruptcy, at least you will know what to expect

after reading this ebook

FREE FORMS INCLUDED

Beginning on Page 19 of this ebook, a

com-plete set of intake interview forms are

pro-vided for you to print out, fill out and mail in at

your convenience if you decide you want to

file your own bankruptcy and have Victoria

Ring prepare your official bankruptcy petition

You may also use them to “sort out” your

financial situation or take with you to a free

consultation with the attorney of your choice

Or, if you are an attorney or paralegal, you

have the author’s permission to print out the

forms, remove Victoria’s name from them and

use them for your own law office for your own

clients

PAID SERVICES

Victoria Ring is employed as a full-time

bankruptcy paralegal for a medium-sized law

firm in Columbus, Ohio She has experience

working on the debtor, as well as the creditor

“side of the fence,” and is very knowledgable

in many areas of bankruptcy

In an effort to “give back” to the legal

commu-nity and to help the average consumer,

Victoria provides pro bono services over the

internet to low-income or no-asset individuals

and families for a fee of $99.95 This fee is

then donated or given back to the legal

community and/or Christian organizations

Victoria has chosen to support, depending on

the current need

In this manner, Victoria Ring can remain bias

and not violate any laws relating to the

unau-thorized practice of law, which is not her

intention in any way

HOW TO DETERMINE IF YOU SHOULD HIRE VICTORIA TO PREPARE YOUR BANKRUPTCY PETITION:

As stated before, Victoria Ring is abankruptcy paralegal If she reviews yourintake forms (included in this ebook) anddetermines that your case may requirelitigation that only an attorney can provide,she will return your intake forms and pay-ment with a letter explaining why she hasmade this decision

The best way to determine if hiringVictoria as a bankruptcy paralegal to pre-pare your bankruptcy petition paperwork is

by using the following guidelines:

1 Do you have less than $500 permonth left after you pay your normal livingexpenses (rent, car payment, food, clothing,insurance and utilities)?

2 Do your debts mainly consist ofcredit cards, medical bills, repossessions,and/or wage garnishments?

3 Have you recently lost your job,

or had a decrease in your normal income?

4 Have you recently divorced orseparated from your spouse and the debtsare too much for you to handle?

However, if you own several automobileswith a market value of $1,500 or moreeach, own several properties, have a largeamount in a 401K or other investment, ownexpensive furs and jewelry, or have col-lectibles, art and other items that have ahigh cash value — I strongly urge you toseek the advice of a bankruptcy attorney inyour area (Check your local phone direc-tory and call each one until you locate anattorney that specializes in bankruptcy law;preferably one that does nothing exceptdebtor bankruptcy.)

The reason for this is because if you have a

large amount of money in assets (items you

own free and clear), you may be asked to

have those items appraised and a portion of

that money paid by you to satisfy some of the

creditors you owe money to In a situation like

that, a good bankruptcy attorney can help you

to protect more of your assets than a

parale-gal has power to do

But, regardless of your financial situation, I

hope you enjoy reading this ebook because it

will help you understand about bankruptcy

Then you can decide which direction is best

for you to go in at this time

OnLine Information

Visit the website of your local bankruptcy

court, take the virtual consumer tour, read

bankruptcy articles, questions and answers

from consumers, purchase a training CD for

your paralegal and a lot more Visit:

http://www.bankruptcyparalegalservices.com/

Short Resume of Victoria Ring

5 years of solid experience inbankruptcy law as a paralegal

19 years experience in tive and office management, businessoperations, organization, communication andcustomer/employee relations

administra-Author and publisher of 17 booklets,

2 full-length videos and 6 training CDs

Seminar speaker and paralegaltrainer for debtor bankruptcy topics

After graduation from ColumbusBusiness University, was employed asinstructor for the Secretarial Proceduresclass for 2 semesters

editor of The Citator for one term.

National Federation of ParalegalAssociations

National Notary Association

Licensed as a Notary Public in thestate of Ohio

HOW HARD IS IT TO FILE BANKRUPTCY?

Filing a bankruptcy petition is as simple as

taking the original and four (4) copies of your

entire bankruptcy petition to the Bankruptcy

court in your area You will simply walk up to

the desk of the Clerk of Court, hand him/her

your paperwork and pay the required filing

fee (Chapter 7, $200; Chapter 13, $185.)

The Clerk will look through your petition to

make sure you have all the papers in order

He/she will then place them into a machine

that stamps the current date and time (Some

smaller courts use a hand stamp and others

use a rubber stamp and hand write the date

and time on the blank line.)

The Clerk will keep the original and 2-3

copies for their own use They will hand you

back the extra copies for you to keep and

make copies of (if needed) by creditors who

request it A Judge will also be assigned to

your case at this time

The whole process of filing your own

bank-ruptcy petition normally only takes about 10

minutes to complete (about the same amount

of time it takes to renew your driver’s

li-cense.)

But the very moment your bankruptcy petition

is stamped with the date and time by the

Bankruptcy Court, you have just put into

effect a type of “umbrella” for yourself This is

called the “bankruptcy stay” law What this

means is that:

1 Any company or person(s) you owe

money to is not permitted to contact you in

any way (once they receive notice in the mail

from the court) without petitioning the

Bank-ruptcy Court to remove the “bankBank-ruptcy stay”

(which you would have advance notice of, if it

occurred, and be allowed time to answer the

motion.)

2 Any wage garnishments takenout of your check will cease to be lawful Ifthe garnishment is taken out of your checkafter you file bankruptcy you may be en-titled to a refund

3 Any foreclosure or replevin actioncurrently taking place on your home orother real property is stopped Moneyjudgments cannot be collected from you butthe creditor may petition the court to re-move the “bankruptcy stay” (depending onthe circumstance) in order to try and repos-sess the home or piece of real property

4 Any Sheriff’s sales are stoppedimmediately

5 Any taxes you owe that arecurrently being collected on by the govern-ment are put on hold (while your debts arebeing reorganized.)

6 Any individual or company who is

in the process of repossessing your auto,boat, furniture, appliances, or anything elseyou own are stopped immediately and theycannot remove anything without the Bank-ruptcy Court’s permission

SOME TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW CONCERNING BANKRUPTCY

7 Creditor — This is the person or

company you owe money to because theyextended credit to you

8 Debtor — This is YOU You owe

debts, so you are a debtor

9 Secured Debt — This is a debt

you owe for an item that could be taken

away from you if you don’t pay the bill Forinstance, if you don’t make your housepayment, the creditor (or bank) you owecan repossess your house

10 Unsecured Debt — This is a debt

you owe for something that cannot be taken

from you For instance, anything you charge

on a credit card is an “unsecured debt.” If you

don’t pay the MasterCard bill this month, they

cannot come and take whatever you bought

with the credit card All they can do is harass

you on the telephone until you pay the bill,

turn the bill over to a collection agency, or

attempt to get a judgement against you

(depending on the amount you owe them.)

11 Asset — This is something you

own that has resale value Your car, TV set,

computer, stocks, bonds, bank accounts,

piggy bank, clothes, bed, etc are all things

that have some type of value that could be

turned into cash These types of things are

your assets

12 Discharge — This is what happens

when your debts are erased and you have

completed your bankruptcy

13 Exemption — There are

exemp-tion allowances allowed by the Bankruptcy

Court to protect the assets you own that you

need to keep in order to live a normal life For

instance, you need a house to live in, a car to

drive, transportation to maintain the car,

clothes to wear, medicine refills, personal

care items, etc The law allows you to keep

these types of items by allowing you

tions on them Each state has it’s own

exemp-tion allowances However, when anything you

own is totally exempt from the bankruptcy, no

one can take it away from you

14 Automatic Stay — We covered

this before, but to reinterate, the moment a

bankruptcy is filed, all creditor activity to

collect debts, obtain judgments, or obtain

property of a debtor to satisfy a debt is

com-pleted stopped This is the protection

pro-vided to you as a person or company under

the Bankruptcy law in the United States

15 Relief From Stay — This is a

court order, requested by a creditor, whoasks the court to lift the “Automatic Stay”that was immediately put in place when youfiled your bankruptcy petition If a creditor

is granted a “Relief from Stay,” the debtor(you) will receive notice from the court of itsexistence and the bankruptcy attorney canprepare a Motion on the debtor’s behalf torequest the court to remove the Relief fromStay (Of course, there must be a lawfulreason to do so.)

16 Reaffirmation Agreement —

This is what you file with the court if youdecide to pay a creditor outside your bank-ruptcy For example, you may want toreaffirm with Bob’s Auto Sales when you fileyour Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, be-cause you want to keep making payments

on your car since you need it to get backand forth from work

The creditor (i.e., Bob’s Auto Sales) willnormally send you an Agreement to signand mail back to them In turn, they will sign

it and send to the bankruptcy court for filing.This assures the creditor that they willreceive all money you owe them

17 Trustee — This is a real “live”

person that works for the Bankruptcy Court.When you attend your first hearing, you willmeet the Trustee assigned to your case.He/she will review your bankruptcy petition,ask you some questions, ask questions ofany creditors who may be present, and thentell you if he/she needs any additionaldocuments from you before recommendingyour case for confirmation to the Judge

18 Conversion — This is when you

start out by filing one chapter of bankruptcyand decide later to file another chapter Forexample, you originally file a Chapter 7 butdecide to convert to a Chapter 13

19 Dismissal — Among other things,

your bankruptcy case can be dismissed at

any time if you fail to comply to any rules,

don’t turn over asset monies that are

re-quested by the Trustee or if you convert from

one Chapter of bankruptcy to another Your

case is “discharged” if you completely pay off

your Chapter 13 or when your Chapter 7 is

legally finished

CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY

20 In order to be eligible to file a

Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you must be able to

meet the following guidelines:

• You must reside or have a

domicile, a place of business, or property in

the United States

• You must not have received a

bankruptcy discharge within the last six (6)

years or have had a bankruptcy case

dis-missed within the last 180 days

21 People who file a Chapter 7

bank-ruptcy do so in order to discharge their debts

and get a “fresh start” in life There are no

income requirements to file a Chapter 7 and

people who file this type of bankruptcy are

those who can no longer afford to repay all

their debts due to illness, unemployment,

marital problems, unexpected medical

ex-penses, over-extended credit or other large

expenses However, not all debts can be

discharged For example, alimony, student

loans, child support and taxes that are less

than 3 years old are non-dischargeable and

must be repaid in full

22 Most consumers file a Chapter 7

bankruptcy and then reaffirm on the debts

they want to continue paying For instance,

you can file a Chapter 7 and reaffirm on your

house This could possibly erase your other

debts and you would continue making your

house payments like you normally do now,

outside the bankruptcy

(Note: There is pending legislation currently being debated in Washington D.C to change this law, making it harder for people to file a Chapter 7 and forcing them to file a Chapter

13, but the law has not been enacted as of the date this ebook is written.)

CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY

23 In order to be eligible to file aChapter 13 bankruptcy, you must be able tomeet these guidelines:

• You must reside or have adomicile, a place of business, or property inthe United States

• Have a steady source ofincome so that you can make regularpayments to the Trustee

• The total amount of yourdebts cannot exceed $750,000.00 andunsecured debts cannot be more than

$250,000.00

24 People who file a Chapter 13bankruptcy do so in order to keep property

in which a creditor has a lien — like a house

or car, or if payments are behind and thecreditor is about to foreclose or repossessthe property The filing of a Chapter 13 willstop the foreclosure sale and allow theperson 3 to 5 years to repay some, but notall of their debts Rather than wiping out alltheir debts in a Chapter 7 proceeding,Chapter 13 allows a person to reorganizeand pay a certain percentage of their debtsover a period of 3 to 5 years The unpaidbalance is discharged after the paymentplan is completed Payments are madefrom each paycheck to the Chapter 13Trustee, normally through employer wagededuction

25 A Chapter 13 is NOT a bill solidation loan, although many people look

at it that way Although it is a similar

con-cept, a bill consolidation loan is money

actu-ally loaned to you to repay other creditors and

you in turn pay back the lender In a Chapter

13, no money is loaned to you because you

make your monthly payments to the

Bank-ruptcy Trustee, who disburses the money

among your creditors No money is loaned to

you

26 Your priority claims are paid first in

a Chapter 13 Priority claims include debts for

things like taxes, child support, etc

27 The amount you owe unsecured

creditors, like medical bills, credit cards, etc

can normally be paid back as low as 10¢ on

the dollar (This figure is not written in stone

It is subject to change depending on your

individual State laws, type of debt it is, as well

as the income and budget of the debtor.)

28 You are allowed to keep your

home, car and everything else you own when

you file a Chapter 13 as long as you make

regular payments to the Chapter 13 Trustee

29 Your attorney or paralegal will also

file a Chapter 13 Plan with your bankruptcy

petition that details the amount of your

monthly payments and the length of time you

are going to be in the Chapter 13 Plan

30 This amount you pay each month

to the Trustee is determined by the amount of

money you currently make and how much

money you need to live on each month A

good Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney or his

paralegal is skilled at balancing these two

figures so you can easily afford the Chapter

13 payment each month It is not to the

advantage of the attorney or paralegal to give

you a payment you can’t afford This would

cause problems later down the road So

don’t be afraid that your payment will be too

high for you to afford

CHANGES IN PAYMENTS DURING A

CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY

31 Nothing stays the same Duringthe 3-5 years that you are making regularpayments to the Chapter 13 Trustee any-thing could happen You may lose your job.Your spouse may lose their job You mayhave a new baby, which brings on addedexpenses You may inherit some money.Your old car may conk out and you willhave to replace it in order to continuegetting back and forth to work In fact — amillion different things could happen, whichmeans your Chapter 13 payment can belowered or raised depending on the circum-stance

For most people, when thing occurs where they cannot make aChapter 13 payment one month, will simplynot pay it This is a very bad idea All youneed to do is contact your attorney and askthem to file a Motion to Modify the Chapter

some-13 Plan You will need to go to their officeand supply the attorney with new, updatedincome and budget information, whichexplains why you cannot make your normalChapter 13 payment It will take a couple ofmonths to get all the paperwork approvedthrough court, but it will save you fromdefaulting on your Chapter 13 payments

32 If you need to go into debt andpurchase something on credit while you aregoing through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy,your attorney can file a Motion to Incur Debtfor you This will allow you the neededmoney to purchase the item (Example: Sellone car and purchase another one.)

CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY

33 Chapter 11 is similar to a Chapter

13, but it is used by larger businesses orindividuals with a large amount of assets ordebts that exceed one million dollars In aChapter 11 bankruptcy you are allowed tostill operate your business but your credi-tors and the court must approve a plan torepay your debts There is no Trustee

unless the judge decides that one is

neces-sary; however, if one is appointed to a

Chap-ter 11 case, the Trustee will take control of

the business and property

(Note: I will not be covering

Chap-ter 11 in this ebook because most consumers

file a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy

Please consult with an attorney if you are

interested in filing a Chapter 11.)

STEPS THAT OCCUR FOR EITHER

A CHAPTER 7 OR CHAPTER 13

BANKRUPTCY

34 The Bankruptcy Court will send a

notice to all the creditors listed on your

creditor’s matrix (people/companies you owe

money to.) This notice is normally mailed out

5 days after you file your petition

35 If you owe any secured creditors

(mortgage company, automobiles, furniture

stores, etc) you are required to notify them

yourself This is done by making a copy of the

Certificate of Service and Statement of

Intentions (two legal papers included in your

bankruptcy petition) and mailing them directly

to the creditor with a copy of your Voluntary

Petition (2 pages.) You must notify them

immediately after filing your petition, hopefully

before the Bankruptcy Court notifies them

through normal process

36 The Bankruptcy Court will also

normally mail you a notice informing you that

you are eligible to file bankruptcy Do not be

confused You don’t have to do anything with

this notice but keep it in your personal file and

wait on the notice that tells you the date and

time of your first hearing (see below.)

37 The Bankruptcy Court will then

send all your creditors, including you, a notice

informing you of the hearing date when you

should appear in court This hearing is often

referred to as the “Meeting of Creditors” or

“341 Meeting.”

38 At your Meeting of Creditors ajudge is normally never present Instead,the Trustee will ask you some of the samequestions you answered when you firstfilled out the paperwork for the attorney orparalegal You may be asked to providehim/her with copies of your tax returns,bank statements, titles to motor vehicles, anappraisal of your home (if you own one)along with a recorded mortgage and deed;

or the Trustee may be satisfied with yourdetailed bankruptcy petition and not requestanything

39 In actual practice, creditors rarelyappear at these hearings; however, arepresentative from one of the companiesyou owe, or a person you owe, may show

up at this meeting They normally onlyappear to ask where the secure item is and

if it is insured Normally, their conversation

is with the Trustee only, not you

40 If your bankruptcy case is a “noasset” Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and if yourbankruptcy petition is detailed and providesall the information the Trustee requires, thismeeting (hearing) will normally only last 5-

10 minutes Remember, you are not going

to court because you committed a crimeand have to appear in front of a judge.Filing for bankruptcy was a “voluntary”choice you made You have committed nocrime unless you fraudulently attempt somecriminal act such as hiding your assets,committed tax fraud, etc

OTHER FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW

41 Any debts you make AFTER youfile your bankruptcy petition cannot beincluded in your bankruptcy

42 Any debts you made BEFOREyou filed your bankruptcy petition, but forgot

to include when you filed, can be added byyour attorney or by filing an Amendmentwith the Bankruptcy Court

43 After your bankruptcy is over and

the creditors have been satisfied, any lien you

have is not automatically removed from your

property An attorney will need to be hired to

remove the lien

44 Never make the mistake of running

up debts on all your charge cards and then

filing bankruptcy immediately thereafter You

could be held responsible for any charges

you made within the last ninety (90) days if

these expenses were not necessary for your

day-to-day living expenses

DEBTS THAT CANNOT

BE DISCHARGED

45 Some of the debts you owe cannot

be forgiven in bankruptcy and will need to be

repaid by you Even if the debt is included in

your original bankruptcy petition, any unpaid

balance must be paid by you when the

bank-ruptcy is over The types of debts I am

refer-ring to include, but are not limited to the

following:

• credit obtained by false

pre-tenses or acts of fraud;

• all taxes, customs or duties;

• debts owed for fines and

penalties to another government unit;

• student loans;

• child or spousal support;

• luxury items valued at $500 or

more that were purchased sixty (60) days

from the date you filed your original

bank-ruptcy petition;

• cash advances of $1,000 or

more that were made within sixty (60) days

from the date you filed your original

bank-ruptcy petition;

• debts made due to an act of

embezzlement or larceny;

• debts owed a party where you

maliciously caused injury to another;

• debts owed for the death or

personal injury while intoxicated by drugs or

state-• Name and complete mailingaddress of who you owe;

• Your account number (ifapplicable);

• The name of who owes thedebt (husband, wife or both);

• The total amount you owethis creditor;

• How much your monthlypayments are;

• The date you originally wentinto debt with this creditor (If you can’tremember the exact date, just an approxi-mate year [i.e., 2001, 2002, 2003, etc.] willdo);

• If the debt is for a credit card,record the last date you charged on thiscredit card If you charged less than 90days ago, you need to write down theamount you charged and the reason for thepurchase.)

47 In the same file folder, also put inthe following documents:

• Your current paycheck stubs;

• If you are unemployed,include copies of documents showing anyincome you receive(d) from unemployment,worker’s compensation, child support, SSI,social security, retirement, estate, etc

• Mortgage and deed if youown or are purchasing a home or other realproperty (i.e., land, apartment complex,etc.);

• Copies of your car, boat,motorcycle, mobile home or other titles tomotor vehicles;

• Copies of your tax returns;

• Copies of any court

proceed-ings filed against you;

48 When you have put together your

file, you will have most of the information

needed to file a bankruptcy petition You can

now start completing the forms that are

included in the back section of this ebook

and/or make an appointment with an attorney

in your area to discuss your options

49 The information you supply on the

intake forms (included in this ebook) are then

entered in a correct legal manner into a set of

forms called a bankruptcy petition A

bank-ruptcy petition includes such documents as:

Voluntary Petition, Summary of Schedules,

actual Schedules, Forms, Statement of

Intentions, Creditor’s Matrix, etc Each

Schedule and Form in your bankruptcy

petition relates to different items that must be

filled out properly Normally people choose to

hire an attorney to prepare their bankruptcy

petition, but some people hire independent

paralegals, and some people purchase

bank-ruptcy kits and attempt to do it themselves

Note: Unless you are familiar with

the bankruptcy law, the average consumer

cannot properly complete a bankruptcy

petition Besides, it is dangerous to attempt to

do so If you don’t know the difference

be-tween real property and personal property for

instance, or the legal codes for exemption

allowances (Schedule C) you could lose

everything you own and put yourself in a

living condition much worse than you are in

right now

50 If you decide to hire an attorney, try

to find someone who specializes in the field

of bankruptcy In other words, your best

choice for an attorney is one who does

nothing else but specialize in bankruptcy law

exclusively You will probably also find

bankruptcy attorneys that also do divorce,

wills, probate, and DUI; but if given a choice

between the two — chose the attorney whospecializes in bankruptcy

51 Calling around to different ney offices and asking them what theycharge to file a bankruptcy is NOT the mostefficient method of locating a good bank-ruptcy attorney Attorneys who advertisecheap prices for filing bankruptcy petitions

attor-in your daily newspaper, often do not file allthe schedules and forms at one time (which

is perfectly legal) and will charge youadditional money to file the rest of thepetition within the 20-30 day allowance.After being “nickel-and-dimed” to death, younormally pay more money to this attorneythan if you just hired a higher-priced attor-ney in the first place

52 The best way to locate a goodbankruptcy attorney is to first determine ifthey specialize in bankruptcy If you cannotlocate someone in your area that special-izes solely in bankruptcy, then choose anattorney who has been in the practice for atleast five (5) years or more (Just call yourlocal Bar Association and ask for a referral.)

53 You can choose to hire a ruptcy paralegal, like Victoria Ring, toprepare your bankruptcy petition paperworkfor you so that you can file the petitionyourself with the bankruptcy court, attendthe 2 short hearings and represent yourselfwithout paying additional attorney fees

bank-54 You can purchase a bankruptcy

“do-it-yourself” kit but unless you know how

to prepare the bankruptcy petition in amanner to present to the court, these kitswill do absolutely nothing for you exceptgive you some practice at filling out forms

HOW YOUR CREDIT WILL BE EFFECTED

BY FILING BANKRUPTCY

55 If you are currently behind inpaying your bills, your credit is already

effected Filing a bankruptcy may actually be

your first step in repairing a bad credit

situa-tion When a creditor finds a bankruptcy on

your credit report, it shows them that all prior

credit problems have been resolved The

question then becomes, “Are you

creditwor-thy?”

56 Every creditor is different and each

one treats bankruptcy with a different set of

rules for determining your creditworthiness

Although there are many exceptions,

nor-mally a creditor likes to see how well you do

in paying your bills during the first year or two

after filing bankruptcy before they extend new

credit to you So although a Chapter 7

bank-ruptcy appears on your credit report for ten

(10) years, and a Chapter 13 appears for

seven (7) years, most people only find it to be

a problem for a couple of years after filing —

provided everything else looks good on their

current credit report

57 In addition, there are 1,000’s of

creditors who extend credit to people who

have filed bankruptcy The interest rates are

normally higher, of course, but you can obtain

credit easily with one or more of them One

of the best ways to build your credit after

bankruptcy is to obtain a “secured” credit

card This is one where you put money in a

bank and the bank issues you a credit card

The credit limit of the credit card will be the

same amount of money you have in their

bank After you have shown that you make

timely payments, your credit line may be

increased without you depositing any more

money

58 However, the fact remains — one

of the main reasons for filing bankruptcy is to

get OUT of debt — not back into it You

should take responsibility for your own

finan-cial spending and saving, making sure not to

get to the point where you have to file another

bankruptcy Once you experience total

freedom of paying for things you want to buy,

and owning them free and clear — you willenjoy life more and grow as a human being.About the only items the average Americanreally needs to go into debt for is an auto-mobile for transportation and a home fortheir family to live in Everything elseshould be purchased out of the monthlyincome, or saved for and purchased in full.The only reason Americans are in debt isbecause they “want it now!” and don’t havethe patience to wait

OTHER GENERAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

59 If I am married, does my spouse have to file bankruptcy?

No, however the spouse thatdoes not file will not receive the benefits ofbankruptcy In other words, if the non-filingspouse is jointly liable on certain debts, he

or she will remain liable for those debts ifthe filing spouse filed for a Chapter 7bankruptcy He or she will also remain liablefor any amount not paid for in the filingspouse’s Chapter 13 plan On the otherhand, the non-filing spouse will not havebankruptcy noted on his or her credit report

Therefore, if the debts you oweare also owed by your spouse, or co-signed

by your spouse, it would be to your benefit

to file a bankruptcy together as a marriedcouple If most of the debts are in yourname only, you may consider filing a bank-ruptcy as the only debtor

If you live in a “community property”state — Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisi-ana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Wash-ington or Wisconsin — most property isequally owned by both husband and wiferegardless of the name of the person on thetitle or mortgage

60 What if I am unmarried but living

with someone? Can we file a bankruptcy

together?

No If you are living together with a

“significant other” but are legally unmarried,

you cannot file a bankruptcy together, even if

the bills are in both your names In this case,

each one of you would have to file separate

bankruptcy petition A competent attorney or

paralegal can separate the expenses and

budget so that each of you pay 50% of the

day-to-day living expenses (if both of you share

the expenses) and submit the information

prop-erly to the court In addition, if you are

sepa-rated from your legal spouse, your bankruptcy

petition can be prepared showing two separate

living expenses for each person

61 Will bankruptcy stop a wage

gar-nishment?

Yes, some of the money garnished from

your paycheck may even be returned to you

It all depends on how much was garnished

and when it was garnished If your wages are

currently being garnisheed, a Notification of

Stay pleading needs to be filed in court as

well as a letter mailed to the creditor and your

employer to stop the garnishment after your

bankruptcy petition is filed

Stopping a wage garnishment is possible

because whomever you owe that is

garnish-ing your check is now begarnish-ing paid (or is begarnish-ing

discharged) through the bankruptcy petition

you filed As soon as the clerk file stamps

your bankruptcy petition, you have immediate

protection under the United States

Bank-ruptcy Court and every creditor you owe must

proceed through this court to collect anything

from you

62 How can I immediately stop creditor

harassment?

The filing of a bankruptcy under

Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 will IMMEDIATELY

bring the harassment caused by creditors to a

HALT Once your bankruptcy has beenfiled, creditors are forbidden from takingaction against you or against your property

to collect money you owe them If they try

to do so, they can be held in contempt ofcourt This is the advantage of the law,administered by the United States Bank-ruptcy Court, and provided as a way to helpcitizens get “another chance.” Even if there

is a wage garnishment or other legal ceeding under way, the filing of a bank-ruptcy will bring it to a screeching halt,giving you the opportunity to take care ofyour financial affairs in an orderly andpermanent way

pro-63 What if I owe the IRS back taxes? How will bankruptcy help me?

Most tax debts cannot be charged in a bankruptcy Trust funds andwithholding taxes you owe, such as salestaxes or employee withholding obligationscan never be discharged However, incomeand self-employment taxes can be dis-charged if they are at least three (3) yearsold and the tax returns have been on file for

dis-at least two (2) years

In situations like this, a ruptcy can be a great help in many ways.The biggest benefit is that you may be able

bank-to reduce the amount of the tax you owe In

a Debt Adjustment Plan, you can also stopinterest and penalties on all taxes you owe

— even the ones that are non-dischargable.This will place you in a situation where it will

be easier to pay your taxes off

64 How much does it cost to file bankruptcy?

At the present time, the court willcharge you $200.00 to file a Chapter 7bankruptcy petition and $185.00 to file aChapter 13, regardless of which state youlive in

65 When does a bankruptcy take effect?

When the Clerk of Court receives

your bankruptcy petition and date/time

stamps it, your bankruptcy is immediately

effective The Court sends notice of your filing

to all of your creditors and bill collectors

generally within 24-48 hours after filing That

is why it is so vitally important to include

complete addresses and zip codes of all the

people you owe on your bankruptcy petition

The court will send a copy of your petition to

all these creditors so they will stop harassing

you If those addresses are not correct, the

creditor won’t know you filed bankruptcy and

will continue to harass you It is also

impor-tant to list all the collection agency addresses

so they can be notified as well Upon receipt

of the notice of your filing, creditors and bills

collectors are prohibited from having contact

with you

If you should receive any harassing

or annoying creditor calls after filing your

bank-ruptcy petition, a letter can be mailed to the

creditor which spells out Section 362 of the

Bankruptcy Code (Automatic Stay.) This letter

prohibits the creditor from contacting you again

or risk being held in contempt of court

66 I feel so guilty not being able to pay

my bills Am I a “bad” person because I need

to file bankruptcy?

You are NOT a “bad” person

because you decide to file for bankruptcy

Back in the old days (pre 1900), if a person

went bankrupt, creditors stepped in, sold

everything the person owned, split the money

between themselves, put the bankrupt person

out in the street and make a public mockery

of them Therefore, this is why people who

have not kept up with the times, still feel that

bankruptcy is a “bad” thing to do But that

was over 150 years ago! The economy has

changed, employers have changed, life is

more complicated, interest rates are higher

than they have ever been in history and the

money you make doesn’t reach as far as itused to just five years ago

Any one of these factors couldcause a “good” person who was respon-sible and financially secure, to suddenlyconsider filing bankruptcy Not one of us isimmune from the world’s problems So ifthere comes a point in your life where youfind it necessary to take advantage of thebankruptcy law, don’t look back Meet theproblem head on, clear it up and get over it

In fact, you should be glad the UnitedStates has set up a governing body toprotect people like you and me so we cancontinue to survive in times of great finan-cial burden

67 Is it legal for me to file my own bankruptcy petition?

It is perfectly legal in all 50 states

to file your own bankruptcy petition Don’tallow anyone to tell you otherwise To prove

it, on the 2nd page of the Voluntary Petitionthat you file in court, there is a signaturearea for a non-attorney bankruptcy petitionpreparer to sign There is also a statementthat appears below your signature line that

reads: "Debtor not represented by an

attorney." If it were not legal to file your

own bankruptcy petition, then why wouldthe Federal Government put this directly ontheir forms? In other words, it is just aslegal for you to file your own voluntarybankruptcy petition as it is for you to getyour driver’s license renewed Therefore,don't let anyone tell you otherwise

68 What about filing bankruptcy on bad checks I wrote at check-cashing agen- cies? Can I include them?

First of all, you should includeALL the debts you owe, regardless of who

or what they are for on your bankruptcypetition However, you need to understandsomething about check-cashing agencies

Believe it or not when you walk into the

corner check-cashing store, write them a

post-dated check and they give you cash, a

bounced check is not considered to be the

same thing as writing a “bad check.” How

could this be? Because the person at the

check-cashing store is fully aware of the fact

that the check you are giving them is

“post-dated.” That means, that at the time you are

writing the check, the check-cashing agency

is aware the check is bad You make a

promise that the check will be “good” on a

certain date If you break that promise you

still owe the debt but it is treated as

“unsecure” rather than a criminal act of check

fraud

However, if you go to several

check-cashing agencies and get cash

ad-vances against the same payroll check; you

are committing fraud if you obtain one or

more cash advances that amount to “more”

than your check will cover

69 Will I lose any of my personal

belongings or household goods when I file

bankruptcy?

If you are filing a Chapter 13

bank-ruptcy and paying back your creditors 100%

of the debt you owe them, the Trustee at the

Bankruptcy Court will not take any of your

personal belongings or household goods and

sell them to pay your debts

If you are filing a Chapter 7

bank-ruptcy, the only way you could lose any

personal belongings or household goods is if

any of the following is true:

You do not totally own the personal

belongings or household goods because you

are still making payments on them (Example:

furniture and appliances you purchased at a

rent-to-own store.) In this case, if you want to

keep the item, you can "reaffirm" the debt if

you have enough money per month to keep

paying the bill and are current on yourpayments Otherwise, you may want tosurrender the item, which does not neces-sarily mean it will be repossessed It de-pends on the market value of the item andhow the individual company handles repos-sessions on bankruptcy claims

or

If the personal belonging or hold good is not covered by an exemption,that item could be sold by the Trustee anddistributed to your creditors But, don't bealarmed by this statement Most averageconsumers filing a Chapter 7 normally donot have more than one or two motorvehicles, television set, computer, stove,refrigerator and some miscellaneous cos-tume jewelry

People in this type of financialsituation, normally do not need to worryabout losing anything they own becauseeverything they own is exempted

WEBSITES TO HELP YOU LEARN MORE ABOUT BANKRUPTCY

70 http://www.attorneyfind.com/

— Find an attorney in your local area

72 http://www.bankruptcyassets com/mainpage.cfm — Get great deals on

real estate, motor vehicles and other assetsavailable from bankruptcy sales

73 http://www.agin.com/bkfaq/ —

Frequently asked bankruptcy questions bythe average first-time filer

74 http://www.freeadvice.com/law/ 506us.htm — Ask questions about bank-

ruptcy law from participating attorneys allover the United States

75 http://bankruptcy-law.free

advice.com/ — This site lists a long list of

questions and answers about bankruptcy to

help consumers

76 http://www.myguidehub.com/

bankruptcy/ — The Bankruptcy Guide This

wealth of information website is specifically

for consumers filing bankruptcy

77 http://www.uscourts.gov/

bankform/ — Official Bankruptcy Forms See

what you get in most kits you pay $19.95+

for

78 http://www.kbb.com/ — Kelley

Blue Book online Check and see what the

market value is on your own motor vehicles

79 http://www.wwlia.org/diction.htm

— Online legal dictionary to look up legal

words you don’t understand

80 http://www.usparalegal.com/ —

Contains over 5,000 legal forms with

tions and answers to common legal

ques-tions

81 http://www.bankruptcydata.com/

Courts/Courts.htm — Find your local

Bank-ruptcy Court’s address and telephone

exemption allowances to help determinehow much of your real and personal prop-erty may be exempted on Schedule C ofyour bankruptcy petition

87 http://www.bankruptcypara legalservices.com — This is the website

of the author of this ebook It is updatedweekly and contains a growing amount ofinformation to help you understand orincrease your knowledge about bankruptcy

SUMMARY

Don’t allow debt to destroy your life,make you miserable or break up yourhappy home Instead, reach out and reviewthe best direction for you to solve yourproblem You have the opportunity to takecharge of your financial situation and may

be able to obtain some relief, which islegally offered to you by the United StatesBankruptcy Court

Do not hesitate to contact me if I canhelp you in any way

Victoria Ring Bankruptcy Paralegal

614-486-7642

PLEASE READ

AND SIGN!!

The following pages contain the initial intake

interview forms you will need to complete in order

to have a bankruptcy petition preparer obtain the

necessary information necessary to prepare your

bankruptcy petition for filing with the Bankruptcy

Court in your area DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FILE

THESE FORMS WITH ANY COURT These forms

are strictly for the use of obtaining information

about your current assets, and liabilities in order to

prepare your bankruptcy petition to present the

court with an accurate and true account of your

present financial status

Confidentiality Maintained The information you

provide in these forms is NOT shared with any

other person(s) other than Victoria Ring or unless

Court-ordered to prove the validity of your claims

After your petition is prepared, the information you

supply on these forms is used to correctly enter

onto the actual bankruptcy petition The

bank-ruptcy petition (that will be mailed to you by

Priority Mail) is the document you will file with the

Bankruptcy Court in your jurisdiction

How to Get Started:

The forms that appear on the next several pages

need to be filled out ENTIRELY Simply print them

out on any printer, fill them out and sign where

indicated

Make sure you answer every “yes” and “no”

question by checking one appropriate box Feel

free to provide additional information about any

debt or asset if needed on the back of the page

Any information you do not provide will only cause

the delay in processing your bankruptcy petition

What happens next?

When you have completely filled out your forms,

be sure and look them over for accuracy and

make sure that ALL the information is provided If

you don’t know the answer, such as you cannot

remember when you first obtained a credit card

create a credit debt and then file bankruptcy.After your petition has been prepared, Victoria willmail you back the petition along with a personalletter This letter will contain step-by-step instruc-tions for filing your bankruptcy petition with thecourt, what to expect at your 341 Meeting ofCreditors and Confirmation Hearing You also havethe ability to call or email Victoria personally if youhave any questions about the process Yes,Victoria provides client support “after the sale,” so

do not hesitate to use this free service

PLEASE SIGN BELOW

I state that I/we have read this instruction pageand fully understand and agree with the contents

Debtor #1

Debtor #2 (if applicable)

Message from Victoria Ring:

Thank you for choosing to utilize my services toprepare your bankruptcy petition Please under-

stand that I provide this service as a pro bono

effort to help low-income individuals and families.The $99.95 fee you pay is donated back to thelegal community and is not intended as a businessincome for Victoria Ring

http://www.bankruptcyparalegalservices.com Fill out entirely and mail with your forms preparation fee of $99.95 to:

Victoria Ring, Bankruptcy Paralegal, 1601 W Fifth Ave #123, Columbus OH 43212-2303 (614) 486-7642

ruptcy petition can be prepared and mailed back to you for filing There will be a delay if Victoria needs to call you to verify or obtain more information concerning a specific debt or creditor; so please try to provide as much detail as you can and fill in ALL the information requested Thank you.

Name, First Middle (spell out) Last

Social Security Number Date of Birth

Street Address

County of Residence Length of Time at This Address

Home Phone Other Phone

Email address

SPOUSE, First Name Middle (spell out) Last

Social Security Number Date of Birth

Address (if living separately)

D E P E N D E N T S

Name Age Relationship to You Is this person/child

living with you?

1 YES NO

2 YES NO

3 YES NO

4 YES NOHave you ever filed bankruptcy before? Yes No If yes, what year?

Are you paying or receiving any alimony or support money? Yes No Monthly Amt?

Has either you or your spouse been known by any other name during the past 6 years?

(Example: maiden name, last name from previous marriage, legal name change, etc.)

Yes No If yes, write the NAME and DATE(S) USED below:

Name Used Dates Used thru

Name Used Dates Used thru

http://www.bankruptcyparalegalservices.com Fill out entirely and mail with your forms preparation fee of $99.95 to:

Victoria Ring, Bankruptcy Paralegal, 1601 W Fifth Ave #123, Columbus OH 43212-2303 (614) 486-7642

Do you own or are you buying real estate? YES NO

If so, check type: House Mobile Home Condominium Other

Please fill out the following information: Month/Year you purchased real estate:

Name on Deed or Title

Address of Real Estate

What company do you pay your mortgage payment to?

Address

What are the monthly payments? How much do you still owe on this loan?

What year was your real estate last appraised? What was the appraised value?

Are you behind in payments? YES NO If so, what months?

Briefly describe your real estate (number of bedrooms, baths, if land is attached, etc)

Do you have a second mortgage on the real estate? YES NO

If so, what company do you pay your second mortgage to?

Address

Do you want to keep this real estate or surrender it in your bankruptcy? KEEP SURRENDER

If you are behind in payments on your real estate, provide collector and/or attorney information below:

Name of Collector or Attorney

Address

Is this real estate in the process of foreclosure or replevin action? YES NO

If so, provide Case Number from Complaint (court document):

Do you own or are you purchasing any other real estate? YES NO

If so, provide details such as type (i.e., vacation home, rental unit, etc), income received per month (if rented),description of real estate and address:

not the replacement cost.

Yard Sale Value

Living Room Furniture $

Dining Room Furniture $

Tables and Chairs $

OTHER ASSETS

Rent deposit with landlord $ Name of Landlord _Address _City _State _ Zip Government Bonds $ Certificate of Deposits $ Copyrights/Patents $ Aircraft $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

http://www.bankruptcyparalegalservices.com Fill out entirely and mail with your forms preparation fee of $99.95 to:

Victoria Ring, Bankruptcy Paralegal, 1601 W Fifth Ave #123, Columbus OH 43212-2303 (614) 486-7642