Bankruptcy Attorney Lawyer
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HOW THE PROCESS WORKS 

Once you have returned all the completed paperwork to my office, and all the attorneys fees and filing fee are paid, your bankruptcy papers will be finished up.  We will then need to make arrangements to have you sign your bankruptcy papers.  Within a few days of your signing, they are filed with the Bankruptcy Court.  The day they are filed is very important.  After that date, your creditors cannot do anything to collect the debt from you.  Generally, the only problem areas are where the creditor might have a claim of fraud.  This rarely happens.  My experience is that it only comes up 1 of 50 cases.  Even in those situations, something can usually be worked out.  

Within a few days of filing your papers in court, the Bankruptcy Court will send out a notice.  This notice goes to you, me, and each of your creditors.  It confirms that you have filed bankruptcy, and that your creditors are prevented from taking any steps to collect any debts or judgments against you.  It also provides us notice of something called the First Meeting of Creditors or the "341 Hearing."  This is no big deal.  This is nothing to worry about.  This first meeting of creditors is very informal.  There is no judge there.  There is a person called a Trustee who conducts a hearing.  It is more like a ceremony.  As I have been reassuring my clients for many years, the hardest part about the whole thing is finding a place to park!  Seriously, there is nothing to worry about.

I will be at this meeting with you.  I will send you a letter several weeks ahead of time reminding you of the meeting and sending you a map and instructions.  At this meeting, there will be other bankrupt people.  The role will be taken, and then the Trustee will call you up to the table where I will ask you a few basic question such as your name, how long you have lived in the State of Arizona, if you have ever filed bankruptcy before, and if everything in the filed paperwork is true and correct.  Although it may take a number of months after the First Meeting of Creditors to get your final Discharge in Bankruptcy, everything is over with for all practical matters after the First Meeting of Creditors.