Chapter 7. Is it easy to file on your own?

[jo23171]

I passed the means test. My lawyer is charging me $1k to file so I am thinking about doing it on my own. Has anyone here done it? I have no assets only some savings.

[free2breathe]

jo, I would strongly suggest going to the Nolo site and downloading their chapter 7 book. Do a search online for "Nolo coupon" and you will find a $10 off for the download, and it will run you about $16.

I filled all my paperwork out without the help of Nolo. However, I wish I had downloaded it just for the references. I spent hours researching online and finding out everything I could about the ins and outs of filing. We are well under median with no assets. I didn't find it necessarily difficult, just very time consuming. We are still in the middle of our case, haven't had our 341 yet, but I feel pretty good about the paperwork.

[debee]

There's a pro se sub-forum here. Not sure if you've had a chance to poke around there yet. Forum member "Justbroke", from what I've observed so far, is the king of all pro se filers. He's got some pro se tips here: http://www.bkforum.com/entry.php?323...3-to-Chapter-7

[mommi2many]

Jo,

I filed pro se too. I am still in the process too and have not had my 341. In my opinion, it wasn't difficult, but it took up a lot of my time. I used the Nolo book which was very helpful. I asked a gazillion questions on this forum. And I registered with Pacer and looked at the cases from my court so I could compare their paperwork to mine. On filing day, I was missing 2 district specific papers, but the nice clerk allowed me to fill those out at her window. I felt like a load was lifted once I filed. Preparing for a bk on your own can be very stressful, but I felt a sense of accomplishment once that part was done.

It can be done but you will have to put everything else on the back burner to accomplish it.

Oh, and mine was a simple one too. I don't own a house, don't have any assets that I couldn't exempt, and I was under the median. That was the only reason I attempted it alone. Hope this helps you in making your decision.

[tcreegan]

Hi jo,

I concur with everyone else...but would add going to your BK courts website and read the 'local rules' These are things that are specific to your court, order of documents, format of creditors matrix, staples or paper clips, those sort of things...

I filed pro se and it was very time consuming but my case sailed through. Sometimes pro se filers are more thorough than BK attorneys b/c we are so worried we are doing it right that we check and recheck everything....

Good luck and ask lots of questions here on the forum!

Tom in Colo

[free2breathe]

Hi jo,

I concur with everyone else...but would add going to your BK courts website and read the 'local rules' These are things that are specific to your court, order of documents, format of creditors matrix, staples or paper clips, those sort of things...

Excellent point. Our district website, and many others I've looked at, also had a "Guide for Pro Se Filers" which was really helpful.