Final Advice On Bare-Bones Chapter 7, PLS!

[HeartBroke]

Ok, I've filled out forms "Involuntary Petition" and Schedules A-J.

Any other forms I absolutely HAVE TO HAVE before I file tomorrow?

Thaaaaaaaanks!

[HHM]

Why would you be doing an "involuntary petition" If you are filing for yourself, it would be a voluntary petition.

My guess is, you probably are missing some forms. Where did you get the forms you are using. You need at least the statement of financial affiairs, creditors matrix, verfication of creditor matrix, etc.

[HeartBroke]

Thanks, guru. I'm getting them from US Courts.gov and the Colorado Bankruptcy court. I'm just finishing the Statement of Financial Affairs ... I have the Debt Matrix ... I'm not sure if I have the "verification of Creditor's Matrix." Which form is that, por favor?

... and I know you have ten days to make "corrections," ... does that include leaving out an entire form?

And how should all this be presented, anyway? Manilla envelope? Hard-bound leather-covered ledger book?

Thaaaaaaaanks!

[StaciMM]

Are you trying to file an emergency petition? If so, I don't think you have to turn in any schedules now. Just the Voluntary Petition, and perhaps the creditor matrix.

[HeartBroke]

Thanks Staci ... I dunno if it's an "emergency" ... I just have to have it filed before the new law takes effect. Like, uh, tomorrow.

I've already filled out all the schedules. Do I just take it all in a manila envelope? Stapled? Paper-clipped? In any specific order? Surely there are nice people there who will tell me what to do?

The "Creditor Matrix," as I understand it, is a single column list of names and addresses of creditors, no account numbers or anything else, saved in Rich Text on a floppy disk -- right?

[StaciMM]

I don't think you should staple it. I had a clamp sort of thing on mine. The good news is that if you realize afterwards you are missing something, you can amend.

Download form7.com (trial version). There are sample forms, perhaps you can view a whole sample set to see the order, and see if you're missing anything.

[HHM]

As far as forms go and emergency petition is no different from a regular voluntary petition.

You can amend your petition (i.e. make minor changes, i.e. add creditors, fix addresses etc) any time before discharge. However, if your petition is incomplete (i.e. you forgot to include a required form), you only have 15 days from the date you file the petition to provide all the required forms.

An emergency petition takes advantage of that 15 day rule. To get a case number and start the automatic stay, all you need to do is file the Voluntary Petition (the first two pages) and your schedule of creditors along with a mailing matrix, then you can take the next 15 days to complete the rest of the bankruptcy petition.