Experienced Pierce County Bankruptcy Lawyers
Puyallup bankruptcy attorney and Pierce County bankruptcy lawyer. Helpful information on WA State bankruptcy law and Washington debt relief.
What’s First?
A bankruptcy case starts by filing a petition with the bankruptcy court. Attached to the petition are other documents listing your property, your debts, your income and your budget. Other information is included, such as recent lawsuits, payments to creditors, gifts and your past three years income. You are also required to submit a “means test” form. Before you file your case, you must take a short “credit counseling class”, which is offered on-line. We can help enroll you in this class. If you are below the median income in Washington, you can probably qualify for a Chapter 7 and the process is a fairly simple one.
A Chapter 7 is a “liquidation bankruptcy”. A trustee is appointed to look over your property to see if there is anything available to sell to pay part or all of your debt. Usually Chapter 7 debtors do not have any property that can be taken because all their property is exempt. We prepare your bankruptcy to make sure the most property possible is protected.
Most likely, you will only have to attend one hearing called a “meeting of creditors”, which is held about 30 days after filing your case. At this hearing you will meet the trustee who will have already looked over your bankruptcy paperwork and other documents that we provide to him or her for you.
These documents are tax returns, pay stubs and bank statements. The trustee looks over all the documents and may have some follow up questions. An attorney will be with you at the hearing and we will help you with any follow up information the trustee might ask for. Most often, in a Chapter 7 there is no follow up after the meeting of creditors. You must take a short “debtor education class”, which is offered on-line, before getting your discharge.
We can help enroll you in this debtor education class. Approximately 60 days after your meeting of creditors, you will receive your discharge.
What are my options?
In a Chapter 7, you may want to sign a “reaffirmation agreement”, which will take a debt outside the bankruptcy discharge. You may want to sign this sort of agreement for a car loan or a mortgage, for instance. You need to be careful making this decision and we can help advise you on the risks and benefits of signing a reaffirmation agreement.
A Chapter 13 is more complicated. The trustee in a Chapter 13 takes a monthly payment from you and pays creditors according to a plan you file with the bankruptcy court.
The trustee examines your plan at the meeting of creditors and makes recommendations about the plan or files a formal objection to it. Creditors can also object to the plan. The final decision approving your plan is made by a bankruptcy judge who “confirms” your case. You probably would never actually have to attend court, except for a very brief “meeting of creditors” we attend with you. And we do all the work dealing with the trustee and your creditors to get the best plan for you confirmed by a bankruptcy judge. After your plan is confirmed, you just keep making your payments for three to five years, though you can adjust it if your circumstances change.