Pre-Discharge question on chapter 13

[wooisme]

After 5 long years my bankruptcy is paid off in Oct. that is my last payment. My question is: How soon can I do the pre-discharge counseling course? Can I do it now or should I wait a little later. Does anyone know the procedure of the discharge

[lrprn]

Do your pre-discharge Debtor Education course *now* and make sure your lawyer knows you've done it and gets a copy of your completion certificate.

The post-fling, pre-discharge course certificate has to be received by the bk court before your last payment. Why wait any longer? Depending on the type of course you select (in person, over the phone, or via a website), sometimes it can take weeks to move the paperwork through the course provider to your lawyer to your trustee to the bk court clerk. Your case will be dismissed if this isn't done before October. I don't know why you've waited this long to do the course, but there's no reason to wait any longer and every reason to get the box checked in a timely fashion.

Be sure you choose a provider that is approved by the bk court in your state. Your bk lawyer can recommend a few providers for you. Sometimes the law office itself can provide the required education.

If you'd rather find your own provider, here's the link to the approved post-filing, pre-discharge Debtor Education providers by state - http://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa...e_approved.htm

Good luck!

[frogger]

Do your pre-discharge Debtor Education course *now* and make sure your lawyer knows you've done it and gets a copy of your completion certificate.

I agree 100%. It's a shame to see a chapter 13 case closed without discharge because the debtor education course was not completed/submitted.

[wooisme]

what am I suppose to be, a mind reader? no one said when to do it. when the time limits were, it's not in the handbook. I received no notification from my lawyer to do it NOW. I know I have to do it. I thank you for the information but really scolding me about: I don't understand why you didn't do it doesn't help. if i knew I had to do it before the last payment i would have done it by now. sheesh

[momofthree]

I don't think lrprn was intending to scold at all, at least I didn't read it as such. Just stressing that the sooner the better. ;)

[wooisme]

No, of course not, just made me feel like a big fat dope! i should have known, now i'm going to be dismissed cause i didn't know. I mean i knew i had to do it. but on one says when to do it. the couseling in the beginning of it, the certificate is only good up to a certain point. which i can't remember now what it is, if it's 3 or 6 months but I had no idea if the certificate expired for the pre-discharge and i couldn't find an answer anywhere.

[frogger]

No, of course not, just made me feel like a big fat dope!

Nope. No one here intends to make you feel like that. What we want to see is you successfully discharged, and the final certificate is part of that process.

No one has said that you won't get discharged, no one has said anything negative, but everyone wants for you to get your certification in order that you have success!

Don't take it personal. What has been stated are based upon experiences that we have seen. I just saw one dismissed Monday that was successfully paid out, yet closed without discharge because the process was not complete and the paperwork was not submitted.

Speak with your attorney, find out when you need for them to submit, and get the job done!

Good luck and best wishes.

[frogger]

what am I suppose to be, a mind reader?

Yes!

[Pandora]

Frogger.... tsk tsk - no pool for you my green buddy :P


wooisme: when you first filed and went to your 341 - you should've received a package from the trustee stating everything that was required (I'm in VA as well). Is there a specific date listed for post-counseling.. No... but it does state prior to completing your CH.13 and before discharge; reason for that is because it allows people to do it at their will vs. XXX days.

The best place online is http://www.hummingbird.org/register/ be mindful that you must not complete it before the timeframe allowance or it wont count (make sure your trustee will accept the cert from any post-course counseling you take, they do have specific ones for the different districts). When you finish it and receive your certificate, call your attorney (or better yet - email a copy) to ensure they recieved it. While it does state to list email of attorney, ours never got it from the site, so we had to forward it on. When he/she confirms its been received - wait a few days then log into PACER to ensure it was entered into the court system so that you can get your discharge.

FWIW - I agree with the others; LRPN wasnt being snarky with you....she's a good egg ;)

[TrainWreak]

Not to worry it is easy to do. I used Hummingbird online in the same month of filing. My attorney advised getting it done asap
(IL Southern District). It shows that it was filed and a copy of it is on Pacer.
12 months left on a 36 month and all is well, just a few bumps here and there.

[newbie2]

In the OPS defense, I had NO idea we needed a post filing class. It wasn't anywhere in our handbook and "never hear from her" attorney never told us about this either. I learned about it from here. Thank goodness for this place!

[lillymarlene]

If this helps, right after filing, I was told by my attorney to get my certificate for the second course ASAP. The course was online, and though you could break it up if you wanted, I decided to complete it in one sitting. Only took a few hours, and would have been quicker, except for my old slow dialup connection. :-)

[angel7821]

If this helps, right after filing, I was told by my attorney to get my certificate for the second course ASAP. The course was online, and though you could break it up if you wanted, I decided to complete it in one sitting. Only took a few hours, and would have been quicker, except for my old slow dialup connection. :-)

My attorney told me to do mine within 30 days after filing.

[woeisme]

I did mine a few months ago, I'm about 45 months into a 60 month plan. My trustee was offering the class for free and in a nearby town (we're 80 miles from his office but he has classes in several of the smaller towns). It was a couple hours long and boring, especially since a lot of it was directed at people who had just filed their BK's, in fact the class had some people in there that had filed that morning and some people like us who had been at it for years. Unlike the pre-counseling which has a very prescribed timeframe, the post-petition class can be done anytime prior to the end of your plan. Hope you get it taken care of, and congrats on being in the home stretch!

[cwillie]

Wow, glad you brought this up! I totally forgot we needed to do this! Will be doing it shortly to make sure we have enough time to get the certificate (or whatever it is) to the proper parties.