Oklahoma Bankruptcy HelpHow to Do a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Filing for Bankruptcy Can Be Done at Home

Video Transcribed: Oklahoma Bankruptcy Attorney Edward Kelley with Financial Freedom of Tulsa, answering your Oklahoma bankruptcy questions. We are in our little intro. You’ve reached out to me or you’ve gone on the web and have some interest in how chapter 7 bankruptcy works, how you can solve all of your financial problems with the federal bankruptcy code, and its extraordinary powers. And we talked in the first video about, do I qualify? Can I do a Chapter 7 Oklahoma?

Again, we looked at the income cap, what assets you might have, and what secured debt you might have. And I’m assuming if you’re here with me now, then you can do that chapter 7, or if you can’t, you have reached out to me as far as doing chapter 13, which is an option for you, if you can’t do a seven. But now you want to know, okay, I’m going to do a chapter 7, how does that work?

Well, here’s how. The whole process, start to finish, 90 days from the date that I file your case or your attorney files your case, until you’re discharged, typically, it’s like clockwork.

About 30 days out from when you file, you’re going to have something called a 341 creditor meeting. 341 refers to the bankruptcy code section in the United States code, so what it basically is, is a chance for the trustee to make sure that you provided the information, that everything’s true and correct.

And in the unlikely event that a creditor has a problem with you, they can show up at the meeting and question you. Very unusual, usually I’d know about that far before that meeting, so surprises at the meeting are unusual unless, in the unfortunate event, the client has hidden something from me. That doesn’t come up much. So, be honest with your attorney on a side note, might as well, because things will come up.

So, 30 days out from filing, creditor meeting. 60 days out from that, discharge. Within that second 60 day period, you need to get any reaffirmations done. Again, if you want to keep your car note, you want to keep your furniture loan, those kinds of things, those reaffirmations have been in that second 60 days.

You’ve got to take a class online 20, 30 minutes before you file. A class after we file. You can do it in literally a process of two days, but you do have to do it to finish it. And that’s it. So, from the time I file to your discharge, 90 days.

And what I need from you before is simply proof of your income and the answers to a series of questions about your budget, your expenses, and what’s called a statement of financial affairs, just extensive questions about your financial status.

Still, when I say extensive, you can complete it in less than an hour. Then I’ll need pay stubs or benefit statements if you don’t get a paycheck. And if you haven’t gotten paid at all, as many clients lately have, unfortunately, then I don’t need any of that. You need to copy your car titles and your last two years of tax returns.

So, pretty simple process. People in emergency situations where we’re stopping garnishments, which is the power of chapter 7, things like that, we’ve had them filed in one day. As soon as I’ve got your stuff, we can do it quickly.

The good thing about bankruptcy, right now, it’s eFile, and it’s all telephone meetings. So, you can literally do it without leaving your home. So, that’s how it works. As always, feel free to reach out to me, Edward at wirthlawoffice.com. We’re on Facebook at Oklahomans For Debt Relief, hopefully, you’ve already got that link. And we will wrap up our little intro series in video three with what happens after my bankruptcy.