Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

Re: chapter 7

You will first have to take the pre-bankruptcy credit counseling course and obtain the certificate. That could be done online, and the certificate faxed or e-mailed to you or your attorney.

Then you could file either a full or "emergency" petition with the court. If it's the emergency petition, you would have 15 days to file your schedules and remaining paperwork.

Whether the Chapter 7 bankruptcy would protect the house from foreclosure would take a thorough analysis of your mortgage obligations and the status of the foreclosure proceeding.

Re: chapter 7

I am really sorry to hear of your problems - that is a very tough situation. First, bankruptcy will only temporarily stop the foreclosure, unless you can legitimately put together a chapter 13 that will repay the arrearages on the mortgage, and begin paying the currently due mortgage payments from the filing date forward. That doesn't sound likely if you are going to prison where, I assume, you will have virtually no income.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy might buy your family another 30-45 days in the house, but that assumes that it is a legitimate filing, and that you can attend the meeting of creditors, which will be scheduled 4-6 weeks after you file. The problem with that is you will be in prison, and unable to attend. Perhaps some attorneys who have represented prisoners in bankruptcy can answer how one gets around that problem, but I personally have no experience with doing so. The last point I will make is that it is a federal crime to file a bankruptcy solely for the purpose of delaying or hindering creditors. Unless you are filing this with the honest intention of pursuing a financial fresh start, and plan to see it through to discharge, I would have to caution you against filing. You need to meet with a bankruptcy attorney immediately to review your situation and determine what can be done. Of greatest concern is the need to file immediately - that almost certainly dictates that you will have to file what is referred to as a "face-filing" - or a deficient filing with your schedules and statement of financial affairs to be filed after the initial filing. We generally charge substantially more for this service because frankly it is a lot more work, and has the potential of putting the attorney in a lot of legal jeopardy for abusive filings. I do wish you good luck - that's a really horrible thing to have to face.

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