If you are a non-netizen, you might amaze to know what internet can do for you these days. It can actually do each and everything – even file your bankruptcy petition for you. Thinking how convenient it would have been – right? Well, with the growth of the internet, most private and public sectors and even the legal sphere have started offering their services online – chiefly for the convenience of the beneficiaries.
Technically, though a person can file bankruptcy online, he/she still needs to visit the court and meet the bankruptcy trustee and the creditors in the 341 meeting. Moreover, if you want to file your petition electronically, you have to be represented by a bankruptcy attorney. However, if you are filing pro se or doing it on your own, you have to file the petition with the district bankruptcy court physically.
As bankruptcy is really a stressful job to undergo, filing online might give you some relief. Again hiring an experienced bankruptcy attorney makes the process lot more easier on the petitioner’s part. Below are the steps mentioned in order to file online:
- Download all the forms you need to file bankruptcy. Today, there are many online softwares available to help you fill out the forms. However, if you are not confident enough with all these, you can obviously hire the services of a bankruptcy professional or a paralegal to fill out all the forms.
- Prepare a list of all your creditors. As each court requires specific documents to be submitted along with the petition, know and make a list of all those documents.
- File online. Today, most courts allow online bankruptcy filing only through the Pacer Service Center by an attorney, and for this you need to pay a certain fee (Visit website). However, in spite of all these, you still require to sign your papers in person.
- Prepare yourself for the 341 meeting. There is no way to avoid this procedure (the creditors meeting) although you file the petition online. This meeting, the 341-creditors meeting, is merely a meeting of the debtor and the creditors, and presided over by the bankruptcy trustee.
Things you may get with professional help
- By hiring the services of either a bankruptcy attorney or a bankruptcy law firm, you may have your court filing fee waived. Your bankruptcy lawyer will try so that you do not need to pay the court fee.
- A bankruptcy attorney will do everything for you so that you can just sign your name and file.
- The new means test documents with all the 75 questions and calculations completely answered as per the new bankruptcy amendments.
- If you want to file along with your spouse, an attorney can help you prepare the complicated papers.
As soon as you file your bankruptcy petition with the court, you’ll begin enjoying absolute peace as of no more creditors calling because of the instant commencement of the automatic stay. Likely the normal bankruptcy filing does, an online bankruptcy filing will also stop foreclosure, lawsuits, judgments and wage garnishments.
