With the assistance of a skilled attorney, Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a simple and easy solution for a person with low to middle income, few unencumbered assets, and insurmountable debt. This 4-step guide serves as a preview of what a client experiences when filing for Bankruptcy with Smith Law, Ltd.

Step 1: Phone Consultation

Call our office to speak with an experienced Bankruptcy Attorney for a free 10 minute consultation. During this consultation the Attorney will ask the caller about basic personal information, income, assets, and debts to determine whether the caller is a good candidate for Bankruptcy. If the caller is a good candidate then the attorney or his legal assistant will set up an office appointment and send a Bankruptcy Worksheet to the caller so that it can be completed and brought to the office appointment.

Also, please bring to the office appointment tax statements for the two previous years, and records of all income received in the 6 previous calendar months.

Step 2: Office Appointment

The office appointment can also be free, however Smith Law, Ltd does encourage its clients to make a deposit on their account of $100.00. With that deposit the client can tell a judge or creditor that they have retained a Bankruptcy Attorney, possibly stalling adverse collection activity for a short amount of time. Creditors are not prohibited from pursuing collection activity until the Bankruptcy Petition is filed, and a Bankruptcy Attorney cannot file the Petition until he or she receives payment-in-full.

During the Office Appointment an attorney will collect any financial documents necessary for the administration of the case, and ask the client several questions in great detail about the entirety of their financial position (assets, debts, income, expenses), including any property transferred in the last two years. The Bankruptcy Attorney's purpose is to protect the client's assets, or if those assets cannot be protected in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy advise of alternative solutions; undisclosed details frustrate that purpose.

Also, your Bankruptcy Attorney will provide you with brochures for (2) financial responsibility classes. One of those classes must be taken, along with payment-in-full, before the client can proceed to step 3.

Step 3: Sign Petition

At this meeting the attorney will review the Bankruptcy Petition with the client line-by-line, searching for any errors or omissions. At the conclusion of this meeting the Bankruptcy Petition should be ready to file.

After the Bankruptcy Petition is filed it will be assigned a case number, which can be used to complete the second financial responsibility class. If the client neglects to take the class, the case will close without discharge.

The next step, Meeting with the Bankruptcy Trustee, will be scheduled by the Bankruptcy Court approximately one or two months after the petition is filed.

Step 4: Meeting With Bankruptcy Trustee

The meeting with the Bankruptcy Trustee is the climactic moment of the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy process. If the client has been honest with his or her Bankruptcy Attorney, and has been diligent in providing the requested documents to their attorney, then the meeting will most likely be short and sweet.

The Bankruptcy Trustee will ask the client several questions that their Bankruptcy Attorney should have already asked at least 2 or 3 times in preparation of the Bankruptcy Petition; that's it.

After the meeting the client need only to wait about two months for a discharge order to be entered, and the case to be closed.

Bankruptcy is a driven practice for an experienced debt relief attorney, like those at Smith Law, Ltd. Because there are so many nuances in the application of bankruptcy law, it is inadvisable that an individual not experienced or knowledgeable about Title 11 of the U.S. Code, and how the courts have interpreted those laws, to file bankruptcy without the assistance of counsel.

If you would like to speak to experienced debt relief attorneys please contact Smith Law, Ltd.

We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief.