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A Timeline for Your Bankruptcy Case; Usual Sequence of Events in A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Arizona

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq. (all)

Prior to your bankruptcy, suffer and worry a lot. You will, no matter what, and all that suffering will make you feel better when the overwhelming load of debt goes away.

If you can possibly help it, try to refrain from throwing away all of your life savings in the 401(K) prior to thinking about bankruptcy. Your choice, of course.

But when you've suffered enough, and you want to file a bankruptcy, do the following:

1)Do your homework.

2)Make an appointment (by phone or email), come in and ask me all the questions you can come up with after you've done your homework, and then consider whether you can stand me enough so we can work together to get you through the process (feel free to do your homework on my blog and then go see any other bankruptcy lawyer you want. Here are tools for finding a good bankruptcy lawyer if you're not in Arizona, or you meet with me and decide you'd rather have a different bankruptcy tour guide.

3)Decide that you are actually going to file and retain your bankruptcy lawyer, or to file without a lawyer if you feel lucky. "Retain" means to sign a written fee agreement and pay your agreed upon retainer and filing fee, and then get yourself in front of the computer and pay to do your PRE-filing credit counseling (required under the 2005 Amendments); you'll also have to do POST-filing online counseling right after you file, or you don't get a discharge. You are not my client for any purposes until you have paid your retainer and signed the written retainer agreement.

4)Get the password to our system from Heidi and start pumping in your list of creditors and your ITEMIZED list of assets, and all the other info required.

5)Get a call or an email from Heidi, with her list of questions (You list paying $234.56 per month for gas, but don't list a car. You list spending $250 per month on .38 caliber ammunition, and don't list a revolver.)

6)Go back and forth with Heidi until you both think the schedules are true, correct, accurate and complete, and then she brings them to me for review.

7)Spend your last paycheck prior to filing with a debit card or cashier's checks, make sure that we're on or about the perfect day to file your case, and we push the button and it goes to the Bankruptcy Court. Congratulations, you're a debtor!

Note: the reason you're spending your last pre-filing paycheck with a debit card or cashier's checks is that the exempt amount showing in your account when the trustee x-rays it at the instant of filing is $300 for a couple, $150 for a single. If you use ordinary checks to pay your living expenses prior to filing, the amount in your account when we file will be above the exempt amount, and you'll have to pay money to the bankruptcy trustee that you really should have been able to spend on your roof and food. DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER PUTTING CASH IN A SHOEBOX UNDER YOUR BED TO HIDE IT FROM A TRUSTEE. YOU'LL GO TO JAIL, AND I WON'T EVEN VISIT YOU, BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR IT!!

8) Enjoy your quiet time; the creditors calls will stop very quickly. Tell those who do call get that you filed a Chapter 7 on date x, and the bk number is y. Have a nice day!

9) Read the TRUSTEE LETTER you will receive a day or three after the filing; it will request (demand, really) three years of tax returns, copies of docs concerning your house and cars, and whatever else it asks for.

10) Make three copies of the docs for the trustee, and mail him or her one of those stacks. Call them in a week to make sure they received it. Bring one of the stacks to the first meeting of creditors in case the trustee doesn't receive it or loses it.

11) Read what happens at a First Meeting of Creditors in Arizona.

12) Meet with me a half hour before your First Meeting in Arizona.

13) Attend your first meeting of creditors, MAKING SURE THAT YOU BRING YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD AND YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE. OTHERWISE WE ALL GET TO DO IT AGAIN, AND THE TRUSTEE WILL BE CRANKY. I WILL NOT BE OVERJOYED, MYSELF.

NOTE: IF YOU DIDN'T SEND THE TRUSTEE WHAT HE ASKED FOR (SEE Trustee Letter, Above)WE GET TO DO THE FIRST MEETING OF CREDITORS AGAIN. AND MAYBE THE TRUSTEE IS NICE, AND WE JUST HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN. MAYBE THE TRUSTEE IS CRANKY, AND MOVES TO DISMISS YOUR CASE.

14) Twiddle your thumbs and breathe for the next 60 days, hoping that a Complaint to Determine Dischargeability of Debt or Objecting to Discharge doesn't get filed. That's an uncommon complication, but if you racked up your credit cards just prior to filing, expect it.

15) After the first meeting, if the trustee wants something, GET IT TO THE TRUSTEE.

16) Receive your discharge in the mail about 90-120 days after your first meeting. It was probably entered in your file at 100 days post-filing, but they don't hurry to mail out discharges. Rejoice with insane joy when you get your discharge, BUT IT'S NOT OVER YET!!!

17) Twiddle thumbs. If you had a no-asset case, your case should be closed for administrative purposes in about a year. If you had a case where there were assets for the trustee to administer, the case will be closed for admin purposes in two to four years or so. Either way, you don't care very much (or shouldn't, anyway).

18)Rebuild your credit with blinding speed, and become an expert on retirement planning. Don't keep doing what you were doing prior to filing, because then you'll keep getting what you got!

19)Save money, invest it well; trust no one, because nobody cares about your money as much as you do.

20)Retire a millionare and vacation frequently in Tahiti. Little fru-fru drinks with umbrellas on beach.

Enjoy!

During the one year or four years until your case is closed, make sure if you move that Heidi and I know so a change of address form can get filed with the Court. That is VERY IMPORTANT, so the trustee can ask you other questions if he or she wants to during that period.

NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on August 08, 2009 (boomark / email).