Is It Difficult to File Bankruptcy?
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Filing bankruptcy can be as simple as taking the original bankruptcy petition and six (6) 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.
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 writes 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 bankruptcy petition normally only takes about 10 minutes to complete (about the same amount of time it takes to renew your driver’s license.)
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:
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 Bankruptcy Court to remove the “bankruptcy stay” (which you would have advance notice of, if it occurred, and be allowed time to answer the motion.)
Any wage garnishments taken out of your check will cease to be lawful. If the garnishment is taken out of your check after you file bankruptcy you may be entitled to a refund.
Any foreclosure or replevin action currently taking place on your home or other property is stopped. Money judgments can NEVER be collected from you if you surrender your home or property, but the creditor may still petition the court to remove the “bankruptcy stay” (depending on the circumstance) in order to try and repossess the home or piece of property. Again, you would receive a notice from the court before any repossession takes place during the course of your bankruptcy filing.
Any Sheriff’s sales are stopped immediately.
Any taxes you owe that are currently being collected on by the government are put on hold (while your debts are being reorganized.)
