You can only file a
chapter 8 bankruptcy six years from the date of your last chapter 7 bankruptcy.
You can file a chapter 13 case every six months if you have to.
You
always need to review and proof read the bankruptcy petition carefully,
making sure all information is filled in all blanks.
All of your creditors that you
listed in your debtor court bankruptcy petition, will be notified of your
bankruptcy, by bankruptcy court on the same date that you received your notice
and the phone calls should stop then. If anyone continues to call you, you need
to give them your bankruptcy case number and our name and phone number. If they
continue to call you, get their name and telephone number and call me.
Anytime you arrive at the
courthouse, you will have to go through a metal detector and locate your court
room. Make sure you empty your pockets before arriving and do not carry any
weapons into the courthouse. Please allow extra time for this procedure as you
may have to stand in line. Do not carry
any camera phones either.
You have to attend all court
dates unless I tell you otherwise. There are court dates that get set that I
can resolve so that you will not have to attend. Anytime you receive a court
notice, call me and speak to me personally and find
out if you have to attend or not.
All creditors you owe on the
date of filing the petition must be scheduled. If you have forgotten to list
any debts, please call for an appointment to amend and add these creditors.
There is a $29.00 court fee to amend your schedules, which the trustee will
automatically add to your case. If you need to
amend your Chapter 7 petition, we will charge additional attorney fees for our
time.
You are responsible for all
the information on your bankruptcy petition's accuracy. You are signing under
penalty of perjury that you have told the truth on your schedules so please
review your documents carefully for accuracy. Make sure you either pick up a
copy of your stamped filed petition from us when we go to court, for your records,
or pick up a copy at our offices. Once your file is closed, which will be five
years from now, there is a file storage charge of
$15.00 for getting copies of your bankruptcy records. Please keep all the
papers the court sends you in a file where you can access them later. Sometimes
mortgage companies require a copy of your entire petition when you are getting
a home loan.
Make sure all cell phones and
beepers are turned off when you enter the courtroom. Your failure to turn your
beepers and car phones off could result in them being confiscated.
Please dress like you are
going to church. Do not wear hats in the bankruptcy courthouse. If you are
coming from work and are in your work uniform there is no problem with that. Do
not come in ragged shorts, no deodorant, hair
uncombed, tank tops, smelling of beer, etc. The trustee could ask you to leave
the courtroom if you are smelly and unkempt. I have only had one client in over
a decade, come to court in a fashion that was a problem, and while I am sure
you are not that type of person, none the less, it is good to know what is
expected of you.
You must have one month's
worth of payments paid into court before you go to court the first time. Make
sure that full payment is paid to court at least one week prior to your court
date. If you are being payroll deducted bring all pay stubs with you to court
each time we go. If you have one full month's payments paid in before your
court date, then often your case will be confirmed without the necessity for
you attending the second hearing. If you do not have your full month’s payment
in, you will have to attend at least two more court appearances. You are
responsible for making payments until you are payroll deducted. Please call me
at 205-283-8749, on my mobile phone, if you can’t reach me at the office, to
see whether or not you have to attend this second court date. Always call me
and make an appointment if you are not able to make your debtor court payments
as we can file the appropriate motions with the court.
If your case is filed in the
Northern District of Alabama, your case number has to be on each check or money
order and your check or money order has to be made payable to Sims Crawford.
The trustee’s office will not take cash or walk in payments. You need to check your
payment history every twelve payments at the court and make sure that your
payments are recorded accurately. You can get a printout at the courthouse at
anytime from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Presently, we are
able to get faxes from the trustee’s office for you with these printouts also.
You will need to check this printout every twelve payments to make sure that
the claims filed are accurate.
You will want to compare the
claims filed with the last bill you received. Occasionally a credit card
creditor will add one more month’s interest, or sometimes creditors will file
claims that are too high. We can file an objection and go to court and reduce
that debt accordingly if you still have that last credit card bill, or other
proof.
You are not allowed to sell or
dispose of any assets, without courts permission. You are not allowed to use
credit cards during the life of the plan. You are not allowed to make new debts
without court permission.
You will not be sent a monthly
statement. You will have to remember to pay each month or agree for payroll
deduction by your employer.
If you get sick and /or can't
make your payments for some reason, you need to make an appointment with me to
discuss your problem. There are temporary motions we can file to help you with
your payments for different circumstances.
You must keep non-plan
creditor payments current such as child support, rent, utility bills, house payments and so forth.
You need to have car insurance
proof faxed to your car creditor by your insurance company and also you need to
bring this proof of insurance to court with you each time we come. Please be
advised that any car with a debt being paid through debtor court is supposed to
be covered with full coverage, not just liability. Midland Risk is offered through
debtor court, but it is only collision coverage, not liability. As you should
know, liability insurance is now a requirement of the State of
You can go into the bankruptcy
court anytime it is open, and print an interim statement to determine if all
your payments are correctly posted. I will show you after court how to get this
printout. You should check this statement every twelve payments. This interim
statement also shows how much is being paid to which creditors. You can also
call our offices and ask us to get this printout for you.
The interest on
non-dischargeable tax debts, such as student loans and child support will
probably not be discharged in your bankruptcy. Student loan interest and child
support interest cannot be added to your debtor court plan if we object, if
they try to add it, but it can be collected from you after the plan is over
with. If the debt is too high at that time, please come in and we will file
another debtor court plan for the additional interest if need be at the time
this case is paid off.
While you can only file a
Chapter 7-bankruptcy case every six years from the date of your discharge, you
can file a debtor court case six months from the date of your dismissal or
discharge and sometimes sooner. You can possibly also convert your pending
debtor court case to a Chapter 7 case in some circumstances if the need arises.
It is cheaper for you to convert this type of debtor court case to a Chapter 7
from a current Chapter 13 case then for you to let your 13 case get dismissed
and file a new Chapter 7.
Also during times of hardship,
such as a short-term injury sometimes we can suspend your payment for a few
months. Suspending your payment for a few months will of course, make your
remaining payments higher as you will still have to pay off the debt in the
same amount of time. You just need to contact me if things happen to you
unexpectedly. The longest period of time that you have to repay your
debtor court case is 60 months. Sometimes we have to refile
your case if you get so far behind in your payments that you just can't make
them up.
Also, when you have bankruptcy
court protection, we can get your driver’s license eligible for reinstatement
when you have incurred debt for uninsured motor vehicle collisions in most
situations.
You can add medical bills and
taxes that you continue to incur, if you cannot afford them, into your debtor court case during the life of the debtor
court case.
Sometimes in certain
circumstances people incur more bills or circumstances beyond their control,
and need to refile their debtor court after a few
years to lower their payments and you need to be aware this option is available
also.