If you have completed your Chapter 13 Plan, and paid at least 70% of your unsecured debt, there is no waiting period. If your bankruptcy was dismissed, you must usually wait for 180 days to re-file. You may file a Chapter 13 at any time if your new Plan proposes to repay 100% of your debts.

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There are several areas related to this question. You should consult your attorney. In particular there are three items worth mentioning:

a. Under bankruptcy law, certain luxury purchases over $1,000 within 60 days of the bankruptcy filing are presumed nondischargeable.

b. Under bankruptcy law, cash advances aggregating $1,000 within 60 days of the bankruptcy filing are presumed nondischargeable.

c. Debts involving materially false financial statements are nondischargeable under certain circumstances.

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There are at least two ways to get credit after a bankruptcy. First, one of your existing creditors may continue to grant you credit based upon your past dealings with them. Second, today there are several banks offering secured credit cards. This means that the credit limit is based upon the amount of security [cash] given to the card issuer.

There are people who “specialize” in the business of credit repair. BEWARE . Some of the schemes they offer to you are not only worthless, they may be illegal. Consult your attorney first. You will almost certainly receive at least one solicitation from one of these “professionals”.

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Surprisingly to most folks — YES. This is up to each particular credit grantor. In my experience, it is possible to get credit if the credit grantor believes and understands your reasons for filing the bankruptcy. Also, creditors realize that after you receive a discharge in bankruptcy, you are virtually debt free with the same income and with the same assets as before you filed bankruptcy.

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The bankruptcy is a judgment and may be listed in credit reports for a period of up to 10 years. However, by the time most debtors have filed bankruptcy, their credit rating is already damaged by late payments, repossessions, law suits, foreclosures and other debt problems which will also be reported for a period of up to 10 years.

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You can file an amendment to your schedules up to a certain time before discharge. If the amendment is timely filed then the omitted creditor is added to the bankruptcy. It is perjury to intentionally omit a creditor. However, if you do not know that a creditor exists and there are no assets for your creditors, the debt will be discharged.

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Your attorney and the Chapter 13 Trustee deal with your creditors for you. You should refer all creditors and bill collectors either to you attorney or to the Chapter 13 Trustee.

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Once you file for Chapter 13 protection, the Bankruptcy Court will issue an order requiring that you make the payments to the Chapter 13 Trustee which you proposed in your Plan. The Court will also set a date for you Section 341 meeting of creditors and for hearing on confirmation [approval] of your Plan. Sometimes the 341 meeting and confirmation hearing are combined into one hearing. Once your Plan is confirmed, you will be required to make the payments which you proposed to the Chapter 13 Trustee and, if appropriate, keep you home mortgage [or your rent] from getting any further behind. Once you have completed all of your payments, the Court will issue a discharge to you which will relieve you from any further obligation on the debts which were covered by your Plan.

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Yes. Within about 30 to 45 days after you file the bankruptcy, you will have to attend a hearing presided over by the Trustee or by the Bankruptcy Administrator. This hearing is called the First Meeting of Creditors or Section 341 Meeting. At this hearing, the Trustee or the Bankruptcy Administrator and the trustee will ask questions to you under oath regarding the content of your bankruptcy papers, assets, debts and other matters. After the trustee is done, your creditors will have an opportunity to ask questions to you regarding the location and condition of your property, hazard insurance coverage and matters related to your financial affairs.

Don’t worry, your attorney will be there to represent you and your attorney will help you prepare for the hearing. Sometimes, after your hearing is over, your creditors will approach you through your attorney to discuss the status of secured property or your desire to retain a credit card. Your attorney will negotiate with them, with your knowledge and approval.

After this hearing you will normally not need to return to court unless a creditor files a motion or an adversary action. This is the exception and only your attorney can determine if this is likely to happen. Generally, debtors will only need to appear in the Bankruptcy Court only once.

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YES. You will receive a detailed questionnaire from my office to be completed. It is important that you complete all of the questions, even though many of them may not apply to you or to your situation.

You will be required to list ALL of you property and ALL of your debts. At the initial court appearance, you will be asked under oath whether you have listed all of your property and all of your debts and you must be able to truthfully answer that you have.

Your attorney will ask you to complete a questionnaire and then will take that questionnaire and complete the bankruptcy petition and schedules based on the information which you have provided. There could be between 30 and 60 pages in your petition, schedule and other papers filed at the time of your bankruptcy. You must follow the local and federal bankruptcy court rules in completing the forms. Preparing these forms requires an understanding of both bankruptcy law and local state law in order to enter the information correctly and accurately. The forms have to be typed and a certain number of copies must be included with the filing.

After your attorney has prepared the bankruptcy petition, you or you and your spouse (if filing jointly) will review them and, if they are correct, sign them. Your attorney will forward them to the Court along with the necessary filing fees.

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