First, of course, you contact us<\/a> for \u00a0that first appointment. \u00a0Usually I meet with bankruptcy clients three times before I file your case with the court. \u00a0The first meeting is a free consultation<\/a>, to answer any questions you may have (but I\u2019ve tried to answer them all here!) and so you can explain your specific circumstances to me. \u00a0After you\u2019ve told me your story, I\u2019ll make sure you understand the choices you have and how they affect your particular situation. \u00a0I will help you decide whether bankruptcy is the right choice for you and, if so, which chapter best suits your needs. \u00a0If bankruptcy is not for you, I\u2019ll send you with my best wishes and you will owe nothing.<\/p>\n

If we agree that Bankruptcy by Bodle is your best way to get a fresh start, I will welcome you as a new client and we\u2019ll get the process started. \u00a0First, I\u2019ll have to know practically every detail of your financial life \u2013 where you work, what you earn, what you own, what you owe & to whom, what you rent, where you live, who you support, what they earn, etc., etc. We\u2019ve got this OBNOXIOUSLY long <questionnaire> that asks all those questions and more, and for most folks, coming up with complete and accurate answers is probably the second-most-difficult thing about bankruptcy (right after making the decision to make that appointment with the lawyer). And we\u2019ll need a lot of supporting documentation \u2013 paystubs, deeds, contracts, notes, bills, and the like. (We\u2019ve got a <list>.) We\u2019ll make all this as easy as we can for you; you can fill out the questionnaire online and fax or email the documents, if that\u2019s what\u2019s easy for you; or you can fill out the paper form by hand and bring us your original documents for us to copy or scan; whatever works best for you.<\/p>\n

The second appointment is for me to review your questionnaire and documents and for us to answer one another\u2019s questions \u2013 usually, at this point, if you don\u2019t have some more questions for me, I\u2019ve got several for you. This is usually a shorter meeting than the first, often less than a half-hour. At the end of this second meeting, I should have all the information and documents I need to prepare your case for filing with the court.<\/p>\n

Before your case is filed, you must complete a qualified <credit counseling> session; we must file the Certificate of Completion with your petition.<\/p>\n

The third meeting is for you to sign the petition, supporting schedules, and other documents to file with the court \u2013 a couple of dozen forms, usually about 50-100 pages, a dozen or so signatures, all saying, \u201cReally, this is all my information, all my stuff, all my debts, and it\u2019s all true, I swear.\u201d As soon as we\u2019re done signing, I\u2019m ready to file the case in the United States Bankruptcy Court.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, of course, you contact us for \u00a0that first appointment. \u00a0Usually I meet with bankruptcy clients three times before I file your case with the court. \u00a0The first meeting is a free consultation, to answer any questions you may have (but I\u2019ve tried to answer them all here!) and so you can explain your specific […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":183,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"\n