An attorney is an incredibly versatile and well-trained professional that can help clients with a wide range of things regarding their bankruptcy. A great bankruptcy attorney can help you with a myriad of things aside from simply filing your paperwork. If you are considering filing bankruptcy, a bankruptcy lawyer in Indianapolis, or wherever you live, can help.
What Does a Bankruptcy Attorney Do?
It is helpful to first look at the obvious, a bankruptcy attorney is going to be able to file your paperwork with the court to legalize your bankruptcy. They can represent you in the proceeding, talk with the creditors on your behalf, and they are a go between for you and the court. They can begin the proceeding, help you halt it if you change your mind, and they can enter in motions and information regarding your bankruptcy through the entirety of the proceedings.
A bankruptcy attorney essentially handles the legal aspects of your bankruptcy so that you do not have to. However, that is not all they can help you with. Let us start at the beginning of your bankruptcy journey. An attorney is going to be your logical first step. They can help you determine if you are eligible to file for bankruptcy, they can assist you in figuring out which type of bankruptcy suits your individual debts and circumstances, and they can help you get the ball rolling.
They do so much more than just file paperwork. A great bankruptcy attorney is a lifeline during a difficult time and can help you with all sorts of aspects of the bankruptcy process.
The Bankruptcy Process
Bankruptcy is not as simple as asking the court to dismiss your debts. There are steps that you as the debtor have to follow, and a great attorney is going to be there with you through the whole process. The first step of any bankruptcy is to file with the court and as for the bankruptcy to be approved and then started. Your attorney is going to help you fill out the necessary paperwork and petition the court so that the proceedings can get underway.
You then need to fill out some pertinent information to help the proceeding move along. This means that you will need to write up a schedule of your assets, things that you own that are of value, you will need to write up your expenses, the money you have to spend each month, and you will have to write up how much money you make each month from all sources. An experienced bankruptcy lawyer can help you with all of these steps to get the most accurate picture possible.
You then need to complete financial management courses, these are going to be online and are helpful in teaching you how to manage your money, how to stay out of debt once the bankruptcy is complete, and gives the court a look into how you plan on staying out of debt once your old debt is dismissed. Your attorney is all the while going to be working to contact those that you owe money to. This gives your creditors a chance to show up in court and refuse the bankruptcy.
The next step is your court date. As we mentioned before, this is the chance that the creditors have to come forward and say that they do not accept the bankruptcy and that they want you to pay the debt back. They can also accept at this time. In most cases, your creditors are not going to show up, but your attorney is going to be by your side through the entire process. Your bankruptcy attorney can then help you tie up any loose ends and complete your proceedings so that you can move on with your life and start fresh.
When to Hire an Attorney?
If you are contemplating bankruptcy at any point, it is best to talk with an attorney before you do anything. The right attorney is going to be able to aid you in the process and support you through it, something that is incredibly helpful for anyone going through an involved process like bankruptcy. Hiring an attorney as soon as you start considering bankruptcy can help you to ensure that you are going to be able to go through with the process, that you are going to be able to handle what comes next, and that you are going to be able to deal with your bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy attorneys are more than just someone to help you file your papers, they are a support system that makes the process easier to deal with, they are someone that has compassion for you and that will help you from start to finish, and they are someone that can help you handle the process. The right bankruptcy attorney is going to be with you from start to finish and is going to be able to help you get your bankruptcy off to a great start, help you through the process, and help you tie up the proceedings when they are complete so that you can start living debt free and work to change the course of your own life.
