Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

Re: Bankruptcy-personal

There are self-help books that you might find in the library or a bookstore. Many people file the bankruptcy papers on their own, at their own risk, of course.

Re: Bankruptcy-personal

There are some options, however, I will say up front (and not just because I am an attorney who represents people in bankruptcy) that bankruptcy has become more complex since the 2005 revision to the law making it harder for people to do this without an attorney. Additionally, bankruptcy fraud and abuse has come under greater scrutiny, and even an innocent mistake, if not dealt with properly (with knowledge of the law) can get you in trouble. The ONLY way you can get legal advice about bankruptcy is to retain a qualified bankruptcy attorney. You would, I believe, be surprised at how affordable most of us are, considering what attorneys charge in other areas of the law.

That being said, you have other options, but again, they are not very good. First, you can hire a paralegal to "prepare" your bankruptcy petition. Paralegals cannot give you any advice on how to fill out the forms - they are only allowed to take the information you give them, and put it into the correct format on the bankruptcy forms. While it is helpful to have someone with the knowledge of the forms to help put everything in the right format, you can still have a problem in that the information may not be sufficient to actually obtain a discharge. Worse, it could be so deficient that the US Trustee's office pursues you for abusive or fraudulent filing. Mistakes and lack of knowledge of the laws don't go over well in the bankruptcy system. You could help yourself greatly by learning as much as you can about Bankruptcy before you attempt to do it yourself through a paralegal.

Finally, I understand that there isn't much point in referring you to legal aid. The demand for Bankruptcy Attorneys at legal aid is so high that you may not even get referred to an attorney. Irrespective, call your local legal aid office to see if they can help you for a nominal or no fee. I hope you can find some help.

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