Doing Online Bankruptcy Research
The truth is that one cannot file a bankruptcy petition online, but what online bankruptcy sites and resources can do is to provide you with the means to understand the process as clearly as possible. There are some people who testify to being assisted by capable sites in such an organized and capable manner that they did not the services of a lawyer (which you have to pay for by the way). Online bankruptcy sites can also allow you to prepare all the forms online, print them out and file them with the appropriate bankruptcy court. There are also online bankruptcy sites who offer the services of a trained paralegal that will walk you through the paperwork, but then of course, the actual petition itself would have to be filed with the federal bankruptcy clerk. Online bankruptcy sites should remind you that their online consultants and paralegal petition preparers are actually barred by law from dispensing any legal advice. It is very likely that there have been some bankruptcy petitioners who may have succeeded in taking care of their own petitions, but as a rule of thumb and as a matter of common sense, any legal undertaking or process that involves the rule of law should be handled by someone with the appropriate expertise.
You should weigh the complexity of your petition carefully and see if you are truly up to the task of taking on the process yourself.
At best, what online bankruptcy sites can do is to provide you with the necessary background information you need on the process of filing personal bankruptcy. It has always been suggested that petitioners study the process and the law in order to understand how the filing will impact their lives not only for the present but for the future as well. A good online bankruptcy site should not only point out the technicalities of the law to you but should give you a realistic and sympathetic picture of how bankruptcy can affect every part of your life.
An excellent online bankruptcy site should be well versed with new laws and its various legal underpinnings and interpretations. Your online bankruptcy site should be able to assist you in making these new laws work for you and not against you; take Means testing for example. This is a way to measure your liabilities when you do file for bankruptcy and to ensure that you are not filing simply because you want to use it as a convenient means of escaping your debts. Remember that the new bankruptcy reform laws are trying to make a differentiation between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filings. Your online bankruptcy site should be able to make the distinction clear to you that if you are intent on filing, make sure that you file it under a more appropriate and not convenient Chapter. Then there is the mandatory credit counseling which is a requirement if you have to file for bankruptcy. There is much criticism against this requirement which some say is a leverage tool for credit card companies to prevent their debtors to bail out on them through bankruptcy; make full use of this opportunity to really find out if you should file or not.
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