facebook

You can now file bankruptcy without leaving your home

On Behalf of | Oct 28, 2020 | Firm News

If you are in debt and considering filing bankruptcy to get a fresh financial start, you can now complete the bankruptcy process without leaving your home. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, people who file bankruptcy can attend their hearing by telephone. These are the steps to filing bankruptcy from your home:

  • Step 1: I have been meeting with clients from across Connecticut over the phone, through Facetime, using Zoom, or in person in my Stratford office. At our first meeting, I determine if a bankruptcy is a good idea for the client, I explain the pros and cons of filing, I quote a fee for the process, and I tell the client what documents I will need from them.
  • Step 2: Clients have to send me certain documents like tax returns, a few bank statements, and paystubs. I help clients get their credit reports for free online. Clients can send me their documents by email, fax, Federal Express, Mail, or they may drop them off at my Stratford office. Everyone who files bankruptcy has to take two short financial management courses online or over the phone. Each course takes about an hour.
  • Step 3: After I prepare the bankruptcy petition, I review it with my client. We can do this via email and phone, Facetime, Zoom, or in person in my Stratford Office.
  • Step 4: Once the petition is reviewed and signed, I file it with the Bankruptcy Court. I then notify the client of the date and time of their hearing.
  • Step 5: The hearing is held over the telephone. There is no camera just a telephone. You do not need to go to a courthouse. In order to attend the court hearing you just call a toll free number and enter a code that I give you.  While you are the phone call, the trustee will ask you questions. These are the same questions that I review with you at our meeting in Step 3, above.
  • Step 6: You should receive your discharge 2 months after the hearing. The discharge eliminates your dischargeable debt such as credit cards, medical bills, old income taxes, payday loans and consolidation loans. You continue to pay your mortgage and car payment if you want to keep your house and car.

It will cost you nothing to call me to learn more about the process. Find out what it feels like to be debt free.