Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Texas

Chapter 7 is intended to give an honest debtor � like you and your wife � a fresh start. The deal is that the bankruptcy court can take certain non-exempt assets you own and sell them to pay your creditors pennies on the dollar. In exchange, your current debts (well, most of them; there are exceptions) are forgiven. That process is called a "discharge."

Once you file your bankruptcy case, you can expect your creditors to stop calling you and stop collecting from you. If you get a call from a creditor trying to collect after you file, give the caller your case number (which will be assigned by the court when you file) and watch them scramble (it's actually kind of fun to do that). You will have to go to what's called a "Meeting of Creditors," where you will meet with the court-appointed attorney called the "Trustee," who will ask you questions about the paperwork you filed with the court. The court or the Trustee will tell you when and where to show up, and show up you must.

NEVER will a Trustee ask "How did you get into this mess?" The process is forward-looking, not recriminatory. The meeting itself generally takes less than half an hour (although you might have to sit and wait for the Trustee to call your case for longer than that).

The bankruptcy code requires all debtors to take two courses: one before the petiton is filed, one after. The courses do cost something, but many of the agencies that provide them will waive fees for cases of demonstrated need.

The filing fee for a Chapter 7 is $306. There is a way to get the court to waive the filing fee if you cannot afford to pay it.

Chapter 7 has many more pitfalls now than it did before Mr. Bush put the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Act of 2005 into place. Also, you have assets that the Trustee might be interested in. You therefore actually do need a lawyer to represent and advise you as to the specifics of your matter. Before you tell me you can't afford one, let me tell you that every state in the Union has a program in place to assist low-income individuals get access to the legal system. Look in the Yellow Pages under "Legal Aid" or call your state's bar association and ask for information about legal representation for low-income individuals.

Good luck.

THIS POST CONTAINS GENERAL INFORMATION AND IS INTENDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE, NOR DOES IT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. FOR LEGAL ADVICE ON YOUR PARTICULAR MATTER, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.