Can i file chapter 13 bankruptcy on my own




















If you fall behind on your payments and are unable to catch up within a reasonable amount of time, your case will be dismissed and you will not receive a discharge. Taking the second debtor education course is the very last step before receiving your discharge. Any unpaid balances on most unsecured debts will be eliminated.

Congratulate yourself! Successfully reaching the end of a Chapter 13 case is not an easy task. Chapter 13 cases that are filed without an attorney have an enormously low success rate.

The majority of Chapter 13 cases that are filed, even with an attorney , do not make it to discharge. While the initial process of gathering documents and filling out forms is essentially identical to the process of filing a Chapter 7 case, there are major differences that ultimately make Chapter 13 cases significantly more complicated than Chapter 7 cases.

The duration of a Chapter 13 compared to a Chapter 7 case, alone, is enough to dramatically decrease the likelihood of successfully completing a Chapter 13 case. Even when represented by an attorney, Chapter 13 filers will fall behind on their monthly plan payments. Without having the ability to catch up, these cases get dismissed and the filer is left without a discharge and without any debt relief.

Aside from the obligation to keep up with monthly payments once the plan has been confirmed approved , the additional paperwork and court appearances required in a Chapter 13 case make the likelihood of reaching a successful conclusion even more unlikely without the assistance of an attorney.

Contact your local bankruptcy courthouse to find out if they have one! If you would like for Upsolve to help connect you with an attorney: Click Here. Attorney Tina Tran. Tina Tran is the managing bankruptcy attorney for Upsolve, the largest consumer bankruptcy non-profit in the United States. She is licensed to practice law in Illinoi Take our screener to see if Upsolve is right for you.

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To learn more, read why we started Upsolve in , our reviews from past users, and our press coverage from places like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Free Articles. Bankruptcy Tool. Filing Guide. In a Nutshell Filing chapter 13 bankruptcy is much like filing chapter 7 bankruptcy, initially, but it does get much more complicated.

Written By:. You might have to wait to file again. Courts often dismiss cases with prejudice for a period of time. This means you cannot file again during this time period unless you or your new lawyer is successful in getting the prejudice period shortened usually to the time that has already gone by.

The automatic stay may be limited. But even then, you have another hurdle because the automatic stay that you rely on to stop collection actions while your bankruptcy is pending may be limited to 30 days or not available at all without filing motions and convincing the judge to continue or impose the stay.

Even if successful, all of this means much more work for your new lawyer and a higher fee. To learn how to find a bankruptcy attorney, how much you can expect to pay, and more, see our Getting Bankruptcy Help topic area. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site.

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Talk to a Lawyer. Grow Your Legal Practice. Meet the Editors. Filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy on your own is rarely a good idea. Do-It-Yourself Chapter 13 Bankruptcies Are Rarely Successful Chapter 13 bankruptcy has always been more complex than Chapter 7 bankruptcy but in the last few years, it has become even more difficult. If you file for bankruptcy, you must disclose all of your real property interests on Schedule A of your paperwork.

This means that if you are on the deed to someone else's home, you must disclose it on your bankruptcy papers even if you think that you have no ownership interest despite being on title. In general, legal title represents the legal ownership interest a person has in a piece of property while an equitable interest refers to the beneficial ownership interest such as the right to use and enjoy in that asset.

In some cases, the "real owner" of the property may hold only a beneficial interest but not legal title. A common example is an asset that is held in trust for the benefit of someone else called a beneficiary. If an asset is held in trust, the trustee typically has legal title to the property but can't use or take the property for his or her own benefit. If you believe that you only have a legal but not equitable interest in the home also referred to as a bare legal title , you may be able to argue that the home should not be used to satisfy your creditors.

But in many cases, this bare legal title argument may not work discussed below. If the home that you are on title to doesn't have any equity meaning that the balance of the mortgages and other liens on the property exceeds its value , then the trustee will not be interested in it. If the trustee sells the home, he or she would have to use the proceeds to pay off the liens on the property before paying your unsecured creditors.

If the home has no equity, the trustee will typically abandon it. But if there is equity, the home may be at risk in bankruptcy unless you can exempt its equity. Exemptions protect your property in bankruptcy. In a Chapter 7, they allow you to keep a certain amount of assets by shielding them from the trustee.

In Chapter 13 bankruptcy, they allow you to pay less to your unsecured creditors in your repayment plan. How much property you can exempt in bankruptcy depends on the exemption laws of your state. To protect the equity in their homes, most debtors use a homestead exemption if offered by their state. But you can typically only use the homestead exemption to protect the equity in your principal residence your home.

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