Do it yourself bankrupt
So maybe your uncle or a distant relative has been trying to convince you that it’s possible to declare bankruptcy by yourself without the assistance of a good lawyer. After all, why would you want to go through the trouble of dealing with lawyers and having to pay their expensive fees? You’re already facing bankruptcy which means that you can’t afford to be spending huge amounts of money on legal fees, right? Wrong.
First of all, you need to understand that the bankruptcy law has become much more complex due to the changes made by Congress in 2005. There are many more details that you have to pay attention to, and there are additional requirements (also known as jumping through hoops) in order to successfully file chapter seven bankruptcy.
We really believe that in order to be successful when declaring personal bankruptcy, you should have good legal counsel at your side. In fact, before you even decide that bankruptcy is for you, you need to have the best advice you can afford.
With this in mind, trying to go ahead with a do it yourself bankruptcy is really not wise at all. But how are you going to pay for all this? After all, you are bankrupt, right?
Well, the whole point in claiming personal bankruptcy is to do away with your debts (assuming that you’re going with chapter seven liquidation, the kind of bankruptcy that most people think of). If you’re successful with this, then most or possibly all of your bills will be done away with. With those bills out of the way each month, you should be able to come up with the funds to pay your attorney fees, especially if you’re given a payment plan of some sort.
Even before your bankruptcy case is settled, there is something called the automatic stay which kicks in immediately when you file. This gets creditors off your back, at least temporarily, which buys you some time and allows you to divert your funds to your legal fees.
This is not to say that bankruptcy is for everyone, so you need good legal advice before you proceed with the process.