Filing Pro Se chapter 7 Need Help.

[skyblue]

Hi guys,

I've read 'Should I hire an Attorney or File myself (Pro Se)?' thread and understand that an attorney is worth every red cents but I don't have mean to do so and I don't want a burden my family anymore.

I don't know but my case could be very simple.
No asset. I had a car but I surrendered. Only the credit card debt. Currently have no income. Just a debt. That's it.

Here is my question.

1. Do you guys know any good bankruptcy preparation service or software?

2. Any good online credit counseling service for the certification before file chapter7?

I really appreciate your help guys. BTW, I live in California.

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

I heard the Nolo Book is helpful.

Just go online to the us trustee sight and pick an approved agency from there, expect to pay no more than $50 no less than $35.

Best of Luck, CMIYC

[familyof7]

NOLO or you can go to office depot and purchace a kit as well.

[rilbrianne]

Lots of credit counseling services will tell you if they are accepted by the bankruptcy courts and most will waive the fee if you can't afford it.

NOLO IS AWESOME! I used it and I filed pro se. It has line by line instruction and includes the forms (you will have to print some off of the court website though because the book provides general forms but you will need the forms that are required by your local court as well).

My case was fairly simple as well. Don't assume that because I say NOLO was great that it means you won't have to do some researching on your own. The more you know about the way a bankruptcy works, the better prepared you'll be. RESEARCH anything you find about the proceedings, requirments, due dates, etc.

GOOD LUCK!

[skyblue]

I got the book today. Thanks guys.

Here is another question

what about these preparation service? Are they any good?

filing-bankrupt.com/Petition%20Preparation.htm
standardlegal.com/
bankruptcypreparers.com/
americanbankruptcy.com/info.html

[Run]

We used one and would not recommend them. Likely using the nolo book with the forms is better. I don't know how most fill out the forms but we got a pdf fill program for $20 that let us fill in the pdf forms and print them. The company we used to fill out the forms mislead us into believing that we ought to just guesstimate everything and not fill out a lot. We ended up redoing half our schedules on our own (thank goodness for the pdf fill program). We don't live in any county or anything that substitutes for one, so we had to trick them just to print our paperwork. I would look into a pro bono legal services place for help too.

[guzzie]

good luck.....guzzie

[ameliabedilia]

If you can afford it, get an attorney, but if you are like me and it will take you forever, then do it yourself. I would not go pro se if I had many or really any assets.
I bought the Nolo book and read that through. Then I looked at a few cases in my area on pacer to see what the actual petitions looked like.
I also bought the 1clikcbankruptcy software. This is not a preparation service, just form software. It cost $50. I have been very impressed with it so far. It has made filling out the forms MUCH easier than trying to fill in the ones from the government websites. I have had a few minor glitches with some of the fields, but when I emailed tech support they got back to me within a few hours with detailed suggestions.
From what I have printed out, it looks excellent as far as quality, plus it looks just like the Pacer ones I downloaded.

I am filing on Friday, and plan on talking to the legal desk beforehand to make sure there are no mistakes, so we will see how it goes.

By the way, I originally tried blankrupter software from blumberg, which you can also get for $50, but it was not user friendly, at least for me, and I kept getting error boundary?? messages that I could not deal with. That one you do not pay until you want to print, so you can try it for free.
HTH

[rilbrianne]

I didn't use any service because I figured all they are doing is taking your information and putting it into a form. The forms seemed simple enough to fill out - understand what they are asking for was very simple for most, some of them I didn't understand what was being asked for but that's where the NOLO book came in.

It explained line by line instructions so w/ that, I had no trouble filling out the forms myself. And it will tell you what you need to file and when. Here's a bit of advice though. Fill out a "rough draft" of your papers, then go over them and make sure everything is correct. Recalculate your figures, you can change things on your rough draft. THEN, fill out your real papers and file them all TOGETHER. It makes it much easier instead of having to remember what needs to be filed at what time.

Also, if your worried about typing or writing, I hand wrote - filled in my papers with a pen. But make sure your handwriting is legible.