File Chapter 7 On My Own

[triniti]

I did a couple searches and couldn't find an answer to this question. Is it feasible to file Chapter 7 on my own? Everything about our case is straight forward and cut and dry.

I am married and we both are filing. We don't own any property, a home, have any bank accounts anymore or any retirement accounts, investment accounts etc. All we have is debt. We have 2 cars, a 1996 Accord LX and a 2000 Lincoln LS V6.

We don't have any jobs and have been surviving basically through our parents and a couple of side businesses we are working on. We don't make much either and can barely stay on top of our bills. We need to file now because when our businesses bust loose we will be doing extremely well but not well enough fast enough to dig ourselves out this abyss of debt. Since we are having a problem coming up with the money to pay an attorney, we were wondering if this may be something we can do on our own. I do understand various aspects of law quite a bit and even prepared my own dissolution from a past marriage. BK is just foreign to me from a law perspective.

If so, any points in the right direction would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[SinkingFast]

Most definitely you can file on your own. It's called Pro Se.

Research and learn. There's more to it than filling out forms like doing your taxes.

You need to know Statutes/Codes for your Exemptions. How much of different property and assets you can protect. How to properly complete the forms. Get your pre BK Credit Counseling and Post BK Debtor Ed Certs.

There's a couple of really good books that have been recommended here on the Forum. The Nolo Book for BK and BK for Dummies are supposed to be very helpful.

Ask any questions you need answers to. Many of us have been thru this already and will help out in any way we can.

[aachudneymiles]

I file chapter 7 bk pro se monday 100%.. it is soooo doable and I cant believe all the people I talked to before coming to this board including ATT. that said with the new laws its sooo hard.. what a lie .. my case is cut dry too.. 30000 inder median for a family size of 4, 2 cars 2002 cougar rx7 and 2006 chrysler pacfica, no property no home nothing but a whole crap load of debt,, about 100,000 worth--- get the nolo book got that like sinking fast said and the bk simplified too. barnes and noble or online... 30 each for me from barnes and noble. I can say it took me about a month to finish all paperwork and get all creditor info. thats because I didnt have the money to file and i was on here asking question to be sure of little things I was confused about.. but good luck and god bless

[jp2861]

If I had to do it all over again I would have filed pro se. Once you stop paying the creditors you can drag it out for months and months while you're figuring out all the forms, and learning the ropes. I was in a rush to file when I finally decided, which led me to a lawyer. But after learning what I have over the last 3 months, and looking back, I could have done it on my own. If I would have found this forum 2 weeks before I found a lawyer I would have done it on my own.

[ameliabedilia]

I filed pro se last month. I have a very easy no assett case. I have not had my 341 yet so I can't speak about that. You don't have to do this, but I purchased bk software for $49. It was totally worth it as my forms were so much easier to fill out, and I could go back and change them.