An Overview of the Bankruptcy Process
The following is some information for you to consider before filing for bankruptcy.
CREDITOR CALLS
If a creditor calls you please tell them that Eric James Homa is your bankruptcy attorney. For any further information they must call your attorney at (309) 673-5297. Please discontinue the call at this time; any further conversation with a creditor can hurt your case. The creditor will receive any information they need from us. Make sure that we have your documents before doing this or we will be unable to verify this for the creditor.
FILING
Your case will be filed after the payment arrangement is completed and you have supplied all of the information needed to complete the paperwork and signed all the documents. If you are making payments please remember that all payments are due within 90 days of signing the contracts.
AUTOMATIC STAY
The automatic stay is the most important benefit of bankruptcy. The automatic stay starts the exact moment your bankruptcy is filed. It is a court order forbidding your creditors from taking any further action against you or your property. Your creditors are not allowed to call you, write you, or proceed with any legal action against you. A creditor who willfully violates the automatic stay can be fined between $500 and $1,000 dollars. Please remember that it can take seven to ten days for the Court to send the official bankruptcy notice to all of your creditors. Therefore, you will still receive bills an notices for awhile after filing.
PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY
- If you are in default on a car loan, be sure to wait until after the bankruptcy is filed before notifying the creditor. Otherwise, the creditor might repossess the vehicle immediately before the automatic stay goes into effect.
- If you have received foreclosure papers be sure to send a copy of these papers to my office. We will contact the foreclosure attorney as soon as possible.
- Notify anyone suing you, and make sure that we have a copy of the documents in this suit.
- Ask your employer to stop any further garnishment of your pay, and make sure that we have your employer's payroll phone number or fax so that we can contact them directly.
341 HEARING
There is one appearance in court for bankruptcy. After the filing of your case you will receive a notice in the mail that says MEETING OF CREDITORS. This notice will tell you the day and time of your hearing. It also has the location of your meeting. YOU MUST ATTEND THIS MEETING. If you are late to the hearing, if you miss the hearing, if you forget any of your identifications required, the trustee may dismiss your case. In most cases once this hearing is completed you will normally not e required to provide any further documents or testimony to the court.
Please be 10 minutes early for your hearing so that we may go over any questions you have before your testimony.
Your testimony will take about 5 minutes. YOU MUST BRING 2 FORMS OF IDENTIFICATION WITH YOU. One of the ID's must have a picture. The other ID must have your social security number on it. Examples of this second ID are a social security card, a pay stub, or income tax forms.
Some of the questions you will be asked include:
- Your name, Social Security #, Address, and phone #.
- Have you paid any one creditor $600 dollars or more in the last 90 days?
- Has anyone died from whom you may receive an inheritance?
- Did you get a tax refund and when?
- Have you used one credit card to pay off another credit card?
- Does anyone owe you money?
- Do you have any lawsuits against anyone for personal injury or any other debt?
- Have you transferred property into someone else's name in the last year?
Discharge
The discharge order means that your bankruptcy is over. Your discharge order will come in the mail approximately 75 days after your hearing. The official date of discharge is located in the upper middle of your discharge order.
Credit Report
Please remember to routinely check your credit report. Maintaining the accuracy of your credit report is an ongoing process an is not the responsibility of this office.
