The chapter 7 bankruptcy laws in New York mean that you will have to gather particular information before you file for it and it includes:
- A list of all the creditors together with the nature and amount of the claims they have
- Income description including amount source, and frequency
- All your property listed
- Monthly living expenses listed include clothing, food, utilities, shelter, transportation, taxes, medicine
If you are married, you have to ensure that you include a description of the income of your spouse and any debts or property which you own or are obligated jointly, even if you don’t file a joint petition with your spouse. It is to enable the court in evaluating your overall household financial condition on the overall financial condition.
Before filing for bankruptcy, you need to go to take a course in credit counseling which can be done over the phone or online, and obtain a certificate in credit counseling which is valid for six months. You have to get it from a government counseling agency that is on the approved list. There is a credit counseling fee but it is low at about $25.
To begin your bankruptcy, you will require to file a petition for bankruptcy, which will include all or most of the below documents:
- Liability list
- Assets list
- Current expenses and income list
- Financial affairs list
- Leases and contracts list
- Transcripts or tax return copy for the recent year
- Certificate for credit counseling
- Payment evidence from your employer that was received two months before filing
- Monthly net income statement and any increase that is anticipated in the expenses or income after filing
- Any interest records that you have intuition or education accounts
- Exempt property list
- Interest record in any retirement accounts that you might have like the 401(K), pension
Currently, the chapter 7 filing fee starts at $335. It is a fee which at times can be paid in installments or be completely waived in case it happens that your income is very low.
When you file the chapter 7 bankruptcy, it means that you are turning all your properties that are nonexempt to the bankruptcy court. You will not be allowed to give them away or sell them while the bankruptcy is still active. Whenever a bankruptcy is filed, there is a bankruptcy estate that gets created.
