Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Procedure

1. You begin the Chapter 13 bankruptcy process by filing a Petition with the Nevada Bankruptcy Court – with our help, of course, not on your own. We do all the paperwork for you and pretty much “hold your hand’ throughout the process.

2. In addition to the Bankruptcy Petition, we collect the following documents from you and file them with the Bankruptcy Court:

• schedules of assets and liabilities
• a schedule of current income and expenditures
• a schedule of executory contracts and unexpired leases
• a statement of financial affairs. Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007(b
• certificate of credit counseling*
• copy of any debt repayment plan developed through credit counseling — this is NOT mandatory.
• evidence of any payments from any employers, if any, received within 60 days before filing your Bankruptcy Petition.
• a statement of monthly net income and any anticipated increase in income or expenses after filing;
• and a record of any interest the debtor has in federal or state qualified education or tuition accounts. 11 U.S.C. § 521.
• tax return or transcripts for the most recent tax year
• tax returns filed during your Nevada Bankruptcy case
• tax returns for prior years that had not been filed when the case began)
• A husband and wife may file a joint petition or individual petitions. 11 U.S.C. § 302(a).

Married individuals must gather the above information for their spouse whether or not they are filing a joint petition, separate individual petitions, or even if only one spouse is filing.

3.  Once your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Petition has been filed (in Las Vegas, Nevada), an impartial Bankruptcy Court trustee is appointed to administer your case. 11 U.S.C. § 1302. This trustee evaluates your case and basically serves as a disbursing agent, collecting payments from you and distributing them to your creditors. There is no longer any direct contact between you and your creditors.

After your filing, the majority of collection actions against your and your property stops. 11 U.S.C. § 362. This provides you with instant relief from harassment by creditors and the fear of losing your home. The bankruptcy clerk gives notice of the bankruptcy case to all creditors listed on your Chapter 13 Nevada Bankruptcy Petition.

Chapter 13 also contains a special automatic stay provision that keeps creditors from attempting to collect a debt from someone who co-signed a loan or loans for you for a personal, family, or household purpose.

You may file a Chapter 13 Petition for the purpose of saving your home from foreclosure. You may then bring back payments up-to-date under the repayment plan, over a reasonable period of time that works for you.

Caution here though: you may still lose your house if the mortgage company completes a foreclosure sale under state law before you file the petition.11 U.S.C. § 1322(c). And you could lose it if you fail to keep up with the mortgage payments as per the terms of your repayment plan after the Chapter 13 Filing.

4.  Within about 45 days of your Chapter 13 Petition filing (can be sooner, cannot be later by law), the Bankruptcy Court Trustee assigned to your case holds a meeting of all your creditors. You must be present at this meeting.

During this meeting, you will be placed under oath, and both the trustee and the creditors have the right to ask you questions. Oftentimes though, no creditors come to the meeting.

If you filed this Chapter 13 as a Joint petition with your spouse, you must both attend the creditors’ meeting and answer questions.

The purpose of the meeting is to resolve any problems with the repayment plan either during the meeting, or shortly thereafter.

5.  After the meeting of creditors, your attorneys goes to a confirmation hearing. This is when your repayment plan is approved.

6.  The last step is the Discharge of your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy once the payment plan has been completed.

* Financial Management Course.  We are not responsible for your experience with this company: we are listing them here because they are court approved and are one of the least expensive financial management courses available as of the time of this writing. Please check them out the same way you would any other company with whom you wish to do business.

WHY FILING YOUR NEVADA BANKRUPTCY WITH US IS YOUR BEST OPTION:

• FREE credit reports!
• Discount prices – Superior Service
• Attorney with 20+ years of Nevada Bankruptcy experience represents you!
• No other bankruptcy service offers you an attorney of record …at paralegal prices!
• No confusing stacks of forms for you to fill out. We do it all for you!
• Full phone and email support during your bankruptcy
• Dedication to truly serving your needs with compassion and integrity, to the best of our ability and power; all without judgment or criticism. Some of us have been where you are now…