FAQ

Yes, immediately upon your filing a bankruptcy petition in the bankruptcy court, your creditors are prohibited from contacting you. They may only contact your bankruptcy lawyer.  Once your creditors have been notified of your bankruptcy filing, they are prohibited from contacting you at home, at work, or by cell phone.

There are multiple exemptions for different types of property. Bankruptcy is designed to give a debtor a fresh start.  Part of the debtor’s fresh start is being able to eliminate debt without losing everything they own. 

Bankruptcies can ultimately improve your credit. You can begin rebuilding your credit immediately after receiving a bankruptcy discharge.  You should start small, maybe with one low limit credit card you pay off every month.  There are resources available online to help, such as 720creditscore.com; and see also wikihow.com/Rebuild-Credit-After-Bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy does not ruin your chances of buying the home of your dreams after filing. However, mortgage companies may want you to hold off on buying that home until after you receive a discharge, in a Chapter 7 case, or after confirmation of a Plan, in a Chapter 13 case, and you have a year or two of developing good credit.

Married people are allowed to file joint cases together, and often it benefits them to do so.   However, you can file an individual bankruptcy case on your own, without your spouse, but you must disclose all of your spouse’s income and expenses in order to determine the true nature of your individual household and expenses.  Also, all joint assets must be disclosed for which multiple bankruptcy exemptions may act to protect.

Bankruptcy is built on “full disclosure” made “under penalty of perjury”. You must disclose all of your assets, all of your income, and all of your other financial and asset information .  And no, you cannot move assets to a friend’s house to keep them stored away from view. One thing I know from representing the “other side” is bankruptcy trustees have a way of finding out the truth.  Bankruptcy is a court proceeding, and honesty is always the best policy in court proceedings.

Yes, actions against your assets or property will stop immediately (although it may be temporary). When you file bankruptcy, the court grants you an “automatic stay,” a court order that stops creditors from proceeding with whatever actions they have been taking to collect from you.  Creditors must immediately stop activities such as:

• Foreclosing your house
• Repossessing your car
• Garnishing your wages or bank account

The automatic stay continues to prevent creditors from acting against you until the court lifts (or removes) the stay.