Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Timeline
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- You must wait 8 years to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case if you have already received a discharge from a prior Chapter 7. In some cases, you may be eligible to file 6 years after a Chapter 13 or 12 discharge.
- If you ever tried to deceive any of your creditors by destroying, hiding, or transferring your properties within the year priorto filing, your petition under chapter 7 may be denied. Instead, your creditors may get the right to recover their amount through those properties.
- Within this period, if you have make repayment to one of your creditors who is also a close business partner or your relative, the bankruptcy court will consider such payments as unlawful. The court may recover this payment so that other creditors could be paid off in settlement to the debts that you owe to them.
- Within this period, if you had filed under chapter 7 bankruptcy that was dismissed because you didn't follow the court orders properly or requested the court voluntarily to dismiss, you will not be able to file again under the same chapter within 180 days.
- You must be a resident in the state in which you are filing for the last 90 days. If you have not resided in the state that long, you can only file in the state where you have resided, or which has been your principal place of business or which has been the location of your principal assets for the majority of the last 180 days
- If you obtained some new credit of $500 or more in order to purchase some luxury products within this period, such debts will not be discharged even if you are declared as bankrupt.
- if you obtain a cash advance in the amount of $750 or more within 70-day period before your bankruptcy, the debt is presumed to be non-dischargeable.
- Your case is formally commenced when we file your bankruptcy petition with the appropriate bankruptcy court. As soon as we file your petition
- The bankruptcy court will enter an Automatic Stay order prohibiting your creditors from taking or continuing any collection or legal action against you.
- The court will send a notice of your case to all of the creditors listed in your petition.
- The bankruptcy court will assign a bankruptcy trustee to oversee your case. The trustee is a federal employee appointed by the court to monitor your case and make sure you are eligible for bankruptcy. The trustee will review your petition, make sure that it is complete, and then schedule a meeting of your creditors.
- Within 15 days after filing the Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 petition that commenced your case, you must file schedules listing your assets and liabilities, your current income and expenditures, executory contracts and unexpired leases, and a statement of your financial affairs.
- The bankruptcy court will enter an Automatic Stay order prohibiting your creditors from taking or continuing any collection or legal action against you.
- Within approximately 15 days after you file your case, the court will mail the Notice of Commencement of Case to you and to all of the creditors listed in your petition. This notice will inform you of the date set by the court for the meeting of your creditors, and the deadlines for your creditors to object to your plan and file their claims against you.
- Within 30 days after filing the Chapter 7 petition that commenced your case (you must file a Statement of Intention with the court and serve a copy on your creditors.
- The Statement of Intention is a form that you must complete out to inform the court and your creditors wif you intend to surrender, redeem, or reaffirm debt that have each secured item. The automatic stay will be lifted for secured debt if the Statement of Intention is not filed within 30 days after filing for bankruptcy.
- The bankruptcy court will enter an Automatic Stay order prohibiting your creditors from taking or continuing any collection or legal action against you.
- The court will hold the Meeting of Your Creditors about four to six weeks after your bankruptcy case is filed.
- At least seven days before this meeting, you are required to provide to the trustee and any creditor requesting it, a copy of your most recently filed tax return, deed, recent pay stubs, bank statements, vehicle titles, etc. We collect these documents from you and forward them to the trustee.
- Your creditors have 60 days after the date first set for the Meeting of Your Creditors to object to the discharge of any of the debts listed in your petition and schedules.
- The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 imposes one last hurdle before you are eligible for your discharge, the financial education requirement.
- This requires you to complete an instructional course concerning personal financial management.
- Your attorney can refer you to an approved financial management class.
- Court rules require that the discharge be entered "forthwith" after the expiration of the time for objecting to discharge or moving to dismiss the case. The time for those objections expires 60 days after the first date set for creditor's meeting. Generally, if no objections are filed, your discharge is entered.
- Usually, the discharge is the final step in your case. However, if you have failed to turn over non exempt assets to the trustee, or fail to comply with other duties of the debtor, the trustee can request the court to witdraw your discharge.
