Under the bankruptcy process in Utah, before you are allowed to file a petition, you are required to have undergone credit counseling within the six months prior to seeking relief. Once you file a petition for debt relief under bankruptcy it will be necessary for you to satisfactorily complete a course in financial management. Since the enactment of the 2005 Bankruptcy Act it has become even more difficult for the average person to successfully proceed through bankruptcy by themselves. With the ever-changing rules and regulations, having a Salt Lake City bankruptcy attorney preparing your petition and making sure that all deadlines are met will give you the best possible outcome. Your attorney will also be valuable in helping you to decide as to whether you are filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
How to Begin
The first thing you will need to provide your attorney with is an itemized listing of all your current income sources; how much you spend per month to live; all, and that does mean all, of your outstanding debts; any monies that are owed to you; property that you own, such as your home, car, and collections; and any major large amounts of money spent within the last two years. You should also provide your attorney with the last two years of your tax returns, car titles, real estate deeds, and loan documents.
Filing the Petition
Once you sit down with your attorney with all the appropriate information, and have decided whether you are filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, it will be time for him to actually file a petition. To do so requires a two-page petition with any and all of the required documentation to be filed at your Utah District Bankruptcy Court. Some of the forms that are filed with the petition are referred to as schedules and they tell the court what your financial status is currently and what it has been over the past few years. You should be aware that if the judge or any of your creditors believe that you have not been completely truthful in any part of your bankruptcy filing, your petition could be dismissed. Andrew B. Clawson, P.C., is a highly skilled bankruptcy attorney who offers free consultations to answer your questions and concerns. For more information visit The Utah Bankruptcy Lawyer.
