filing on own

[john78]

hello everyone
I have a question about filing on my own because of my financial condition,right now the irs has a wage levy on my salary and I have a commercial garnishment which is leaving me nothing to afford a attrny to do a bk,what I wanted to ask,, my major debt is in back taxes and a commercial judgement,im behind on rent and utils but those 2 are working with me,but the garnishments are draining me, would it be a major task to have a online petition preparer prepair my filing and go it on my own to get the irs to work with me.

[LadyInTheRed]

Welcome to BKforum!!

If you are going to file pro-se, I suggest you do it all yourself. An online petition preparer is basically a typist. They are not supposed to tell you how to fill out a form. You are better off understanding all the forms and making sure they are correct by filling them out yourself.

Get yourself a Chap 7 filing guide. The Nolo Press guide is often recommended. Familiarize yourself with the Bankruptcy Code, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, your court's local rules and all other information available on the court website about local procedures.

Consult with a few attorneys and ask a lot of questions. Most BK attorneys give free consultations. You don't have to tell them you plan to file pro-se. Maybe you will find one who will work with you on payments.

Yes, it will be a major task. But many have done it successfully. Be ready to dedicate a lot of time to learning about BK and figuring out how to fill out the forms.

One thing you should look into is whether you qualify for a non-consumer Chap 7. If most of your debt is not consumer debt, then you can file Chap 7 without having to pass the means test. I am not certain, but I think taxes are non consumer debt. I don't know what you mean by a commerical judgment. When you consult with attorneys, find out whether it is consumer debt. You also need to determine whether any of your taxes are dischargeable.

[justbroke]

I can not, and will not, recommend any particular on-line petition preparer, but there is a system-based tool called Blumberg Bankrupter which allows you to download their software and pay a fee to file a single case. it does not "guide" you through the process and is really a tool for filing out the forms. it will generate a PDF (or PDFs) that you can use for filing (even though it says "electronic" filing which is mandatory for attorneys). I think a single petition is $55. While it's the cheapest option, the learning curve for Bankrupter may be high.

I personally used an online service where you answer questions and fill in a bunch of things and the software then produces your petition in a PDF. It made a few "minor" errors that I was able to correct before filing. I think I paid about $199.

If you decide to fill the forms yourself, you'll need to get a good PDF Editing tool. Don't use a free one. In fact, there is Adobe Acrobat and Nitro Pro PDF. I use Nitro Pro. They have a 14 day trial if you want to "try" before you buy. I purchased Nitro Pro at $79 with a discount but it's $139 if you buy it without a discount.

[LadyInTheRed]

I use NitroPro at home. I downloaded the supposed 14 day trial a couple of years ago and it still works. But, it may not have all the functionality as if I paid for it. I haven't used it for any significant editing.

john78, I assumed you were talking about a service where you send information and a person actually prepares the forms for you. The type of online tool justbroke describes sounds like a good tool for a pro-se filer as long as you review the results carefully to make sure your petition is complete and correct.

[john78]

thank you all for the replys, i did follow back to my local town bankruptcy court,i looked around and they have a section under self file,the forms and all are there, when i went to each step they are all prefillible on the page and the option to print or save as,would this be something i would be looking for instead of a online service? here is a link to the section i was exploring,i will go step by step via this way if this is the case, here is the link http://www.uscourts.gov/FormsAndFees...ptcyForms.aspx

[justbroke]

john78 you can use the fillable forms. They do have some issues which include not being able to add a lot of text to a particular question/box. Generally, you can use a continuation sheet in that case. (I had to use continuation sheets on my original petition.) Also, be careful with some of the fillables that say that you can save the data. Not all of them actually save the data (the stuff that you typed).

[LadyInTheRed]

That is not your local court's site. You probably followed the link from the local court's website to the site for federal forms. Most, if not all of those forms will be the correct forms. But, make sure that there are not any local forms that replace or are in addition to the federal forms. Also, be sure to follow the link to form b200 for the list of forms required for each chapter.

[john78]

i really cant thank everyone enough for the help here,lady in red the commecial garnishment is the payroll office way of saying a judgement garnishment, i work as a fed emp and they use those terms,the judgment was for a purchase of goods on a payment aggrement,i read up on mostly everything at the courts site and read the chap 7 forms over and over,im gonna fill out the forms today and take the credit counseling course today also.i just need to find out how to list my irs debt,is it priority,secured etc,there was a tax lien filed 2 yrs ago.also im gonna request to do the court fee in the 4 x payments,would that delay my filing on monday in person and having the case filed and geting a case number

[LadyInTheRed]

john78, do you even know if your tax debt is dischargeable? Have you read about preferences, presumptions of non dischargability and transfers to insiders to make sure you aren't going to run into problems. Have you consulted with any attorneys? Maybe you've been researching BK long before you posted here and you already know about all this. If not, please don't rush into this.

I am pretty sure that taxes are a priority debt. Where there is a lien there is secured debt. But, the entire tax debt may not be secured.

[john78]

i went to the bk court yesterday morning after reviewing my petition over and over,i was able to file and get a case number,i did make a mistake in not having one form but the clerk advised me to just send it in,i do have a few questions i would like to post pertaining to rent and taxes,should this be posted in the corecct section of the forum or stay in the pro se section

[justbroke]

You can keep it in the Pro Se section. As LadyInTheRed wrote above, taxes are a special case and we really can't tell if your taxes are dischargeable. Generally the IRS is very good about doing the right thing. You mentioned tax liens, which will survive the bankruptcy. The current taxes, if they're more than 3 years old, filed more than 2 years ago, and were not assessed within 240 days, could also be dischargeable.

Try opening a new topic on the taxes and see what you get for responses.

[atlast]

I'm filling on my own hired a paralegal. But I didnt do my work now im paying the courts extra

[atlast]

How do I go and find all address for the company i owe when they go out of business or no longer in our state and they send you to collection and they buy them out i was told to put both in

[johnsctt]

next Thursday the 4th of june is my 341 meeting,so far everything looks ok except for one creditor who must of changed there address,the bk court sent me the undeliverable mailing, ill havt to hunt down the new address if possible,am I required to bring anything to the 341 meeting, I sent my last 3 yrs w-2s and last 3 months of paystubs and last yrs tax return to the trustee already

[justbroke]

How do I go and find all address for the company i owe when they go out of business or no longer in our state and they send you to collection and they buy them out i was told to put both in

Yes, just put the last known address of the business and the last known address of the last known collection agency.