Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Forms
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A voluntary chapter 7 bankruptcy petition consists of 40-80 pages of forms that start with general information about you and your desire to declare bankruptcy, followed by schedules that detail your debts, assets, expenses, income, leases and codebtors. A ch 7 petition also contains a statement of your financial affairs, SSN, certificates regarding a completed credit counseling course and personal finance course, a means test and a matrix listing the addresses of all your creditors so they can be notified of your bankruptcy filing.
Voluntary Petition – The voluntary bankruptcy petiton form will list your personal information such as name, address, other related bankruptcy cases, how many creditors you have, your attorney’s information if you have one or non-attorney bankruptcy petition preparer.
Credit Counseling – Before you file a chapter 7 bankruptcy you have to complete a credit counseling session. The session must be completed with an approved agency and can usually be completed online. The counseling must be completed within 180 days before filing your bankruptcy petition.
Summary of Schedules – Although this form comes early in a bankruptcy petition, it’s really a summary of all the other forms, totally your debts and assets.
Schedule A – Real property such as any homes you own are listed on this schedule. Any liens that are on the property such as mortgages will also be listed.
Schedule B – Personal property is listed here, usually defined as anything you own that is not attached to the earth, such as clothing, furniture, automobiles, insurance, retirement accounts.
Schedule C – One of the most important schedules in a Ch 7 bankruptcy, Sch C lists your bankruptcy exemptions, the laws that allow you to keep specific amounts of your property from being sold to pay your creditors.
Schedule D – Secured claims are listed on Sch D. Secured means you owe money that is tied to that property, such as a mortgage on your house or loan on your car.
Schedule E – Some debts have priority and have to be repaid even if you file bankruptcy such as taxes, and child support. These debts are listed specifically on Sch E.
Schedule F – Unsecured claims are listed on Sch F and are debts that are not tied to property, such as medical bills and unsecured credit cards.
Schedule G – Contracts and leases are listed here, such as leased cars, cell phone contracts and possible time shares.
Schedule H – If you have a debt that someone else is also responsible for paying, these are called codebtors and are listed on Sch H. Codebtors are notified of your bankruptcy filing as they are considered a creditor.
Schedule I – All income is listed on this schedule, including a spouse’s income even if you are not filing together or only one spouse is filing.
Schedule J – Expenses are listed on Sch J.
Statement of Intention – Another very important schedule for chapter 7 is the statement of intention. This form lists your property that you are still paying on, such as your home and car, and asks you when you intend to do with it. Do you plan on keeping it and continuing to pay, or handing it over to the creditor?
Financial Affairs – This long form asks about amounts you have paid to creditors, lawsuits, insurance losses, property you own that is in the possession of others, previous spouses, old addresses, expenses you have incurred to file bankruptcy and more.
Means Test – The biggest change to filing chapter 7 is the means test. This form takes your income and family size and compares your income and expenses to families in the same area you live to determine if you are trying to file bankruptcy when you really can pay your debts. If you have enough disposable income to pay a percentage of your debts you could be forced into a chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Creditor Matrix – A simple list of your creditors names and addresses are prepared so they can be sent a notice of your bankruptcy filing.
Statement of SSN – Just as it’s named, this form states your social security number.
Financial Certificate – After filing your ch 7 bankruptcy petition you will have to take a course on personal financial management and submit the certificate to your bankruptcy court.
All of these forms and schedules must be completed in order to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. Any individual can represent themselves pro se in a bankruptcy case, but if you don’t understand the bankruptcy laws or have a lot of property hiring a bankruptcy attorney is highly recommended.
