scrapwench Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Ok, after having been screwed out of money by TWO different local attorneys, I'm to the point where I just want to file hubby's bk myself and be done with it.The only assets (?) we have are our house (less than $2k in equity) and our car, which we bought in feb. of this year. Other than these, we don't have anything. Payments on the house and car are current. Disposable income is around $60 a month, probably less right now with the high gas prices.My question is, is filing this ourselves something that's feasible to pull off? We want to reaffirm both the car and house. I know we're well under the exemption limits for Indiana, since we've got almost no equity in the house. Heck, we can't sell the thing for what we owe on it, with the housing market the way it is. We've already looked into that. I'm slowly reading the NOLO book about chapter 7, but hadn't seen this addressed in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocPC Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 I doubt that even I would attempt an asset CH7........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 DocPC: okay, I'm confused. I thought you only needed a lawyer if there were significant assets. Doesn't sound like there's much to claim here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocPC Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 DocPC: okay, I'm confused. I thought you only needed a lawyer if there were significant assets. Doesn't sound like there's much to claim here...My point is what if one of the creditors show up to dispute? How will you answer? I have seen even no asset BK's go sideways because the pro se was not able to answer properly.I think we should wait for the Red Lady to poke in and give her opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapwench Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 My point is what if one of the creditors show up to dispute? How will you answer? I have seen even no asset BK's go sideways because the pro se was not able to answer properly.I think we should wait for the Red Lady to poke in and give her opinion.Ok, valid point. But if this is a bad idea, what do you suggest we do? We for sure don't have the money to pay a third lawyer, and we've eaten so much time in this already that he's dealing with lawyers calling and threatening to sue now. It would take probably 4-5 months to save up enough cash for another lawyer, IF I could find a cheap one.We're at our wits end with this, and I'm running out of ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadynRed Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 If that's all the assets you have and they are both within the exemptions ( along with everything else you have), then you can probably pull off pro se w/o too much trouble. There is always the outside chance some creditor will object, but it you intend to reaffirm on the secured debts, what is there for them to object to ?? They don't want the property back, they want the M-O-N-E-Y -reaffirmation will give them that. Its rare that any UNsecured creditors ever show up.If you don't have any complicated retirement plan issues, or non-exempt assets to worry about, go for it, just make sure you're prepared to handle the mass of paperwork you're going to face. Read that NOLO book cover to cover and you should be ok. Also be prepared to pull out at least a years' worth of bank statements and up to 3 years of tax returns - just in case the Trustee asks, you'll be ready. Trustee's know that lawyers go thru this stuff, so its not unusual for them to ask pro se filers for more backup documentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapwench Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 If that's all the assets you have and they are both within the exemptions ( along with everything else you have), then you can probably pull off pro se w/o too much trouble. There is always the outside chance some creditor will object, but it you intend to reaffirm on the secured debts, what is there for them to object to ?? They don't want the property back, they want the M-O-N-E-Y -reaffirmation will give them that. Its rare that any UNsecured creditors ever show up.If you don't have any complicated retirement plan issues, or non-exempt assets to worry about, go for it, just make sure you're prepared to handle the mass of paperwork you're going to face. Read that NOLO book cover to cover and you should be ok. Also be prepared to pull out at least a years' worth of bank statements and up to 3 years of tax returns - just in case the Trustee asks, you'll be ready. Trustee's know that lawyers go thru this stuff, so its not unusual for them to ask pro se filers for more backup documentation.A years worth of bank statements? Eeek! Um, ok. Might have to get copies from the bank. Interesting, since we've never had either attorney ask for them or tax returns before. Anything else documentation wise I should worry about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadynRed Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 You may not be asked for those things, but I've seen many accounts where pro se filers HAVE been asked for that much documentation. If you have a lawyer, its the lawyer's job to verify what's on your BK schedules and most will ask for at least 3 months of bank statments and 1 or 2 years of tax returns. At the least, have 6 months of bank statements handy.I'm just saying that if you're going to do it pro se, then it would be wise to pull that kind of documetation together ahead of time than have to scramble under a Trustee's deadline to produce them. You might also want to have a couple of pay stubs handy, car titles (if you have them) and any insurance policies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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