What to Expect: Filing for Bankruptcy Timeline

When you’re filing for bankruptcy, it’s important to understand the timeline of how the process works. Since filing for bankruptcy provides you with a fresh financial start, it’s vital that you are aware of how long the process takes before you see the benefits. Of course, working with a Fort Worth bankruptcy attorney will ensure that the timeline is clear for you. Here are a few highlights to expect when filing for bankruptcy.

Filing for Bankruptcy: From Beginning to End

Before you even meet with a bankruptcy attorney, the process starts before bankruptcy itself is even in your mind. Typically, six months ahead of filing for bankruptcy, a debtor will experience heavy debts, the inability to meet bills (or making late payments), relying more on credit cards or loans, and much more. As things get worse, the debtor understands that filing for bankruptcy might be a viable option, so he or she contacts a bankruptcy attorney and begins the formal process.

Credit Counseling. Six months prior to filing for bankruptcy, you must complete counseling, which generally can be finished within one week. A certificate will be issued to you upon completion.

Filing for Bankruptcy. After you’ve met the pre-bankruptcy requirements and have worked with your bankruptcy attorney to file a petition, you have a wiggle room of 15 to 30 days to produce any documents the court may need to decide your bankruptcy case. These include lists of your current income, expenditures, assets, liabilities, and anything financially pertinent to your situation.

The benefits begin. With the help of your bankruptcy attorney, the filing went smoothly and now it’s time to experience the benefits that filing for bankruptcy can provide. Just two weeks after filing for Chapter 7, it’s already possible to finance a vehicle. You can also experience these benefits in a Chapter 13 situation as soon as you begin making payments again.

341 Meeting. Twenty days after filing for bankruptcy with your bankruptcy attorney, the 341 meeting is one of the most crucial days that will determine your case.
Discharge. With the help of your bankruptcy attorney, a discharge will be issued within 6 months of filing for bankruptcy.