East Palo Alto, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

If you file you have to give information about your finances and your spouse's finances. It may be difficult to keep it away from your spouse and she may have to fight the issue.

Filing bankruptcy is not as easy as filling out a form. It's more like filling out many forms (about 50-60 pages) taking credit counseling courses, filing the petition with the court, attending a hearing, etc. Many people find the process too cumbersome to handle on their own and if you choose to go at it yourself then you do so at your own peril since there are some things to think about before deciding if filing is a good idea and if so what type of BK is appropriate and best time to move forward. I will say that generally speaking the money you spend on hiring a BK attorney is well spent. I'd say in terms of difficulty filing a successful bankruptcy falls somewhere in the middle between replacing oxygen sensors on a vehicle and rebuilding the transmission. I've done the first, but would never attempt the later as I am not a mechanic. I've had lawyers as BK clients. Those lawyers might be very well versed in handling even complicated litigation cases in state court but they know that bankruptcy court, which is a federal court has their own set of rules and procedures so they're not going to even try, they just get a bankruptcy attorney to do what they know how to do and they stick with what they know how to do. If you are absolutely committed in going at it alone then I suggest you spend considerable amount of time educating yourself on how to do it. There are self help books at most libraries. Nolo Bankruptcy books is probably one of the best laypersons' resources. The more sophisticated and thorough include state specific Bankruptcy Legal Practice Guides - those should be at the local law library. Some BK courts also provide information online for the do it yourself. I've checked what is available in my own jurisdiction and I can say it's pretty good but limited and doesn't really help someone figure out if filing BK makes sense, which can be even more important question to answer before you ask how to do it. I should mention that disability income is exempt from the creditor's reach. I don't know what other assets you have and whether you are as they say "judgment proof" or whether this situation is likely to continue for the remainder of your life. Since you mentioned that you went through a divorce I'm also wondering whether there are debts on which you are jointly liable but that the family court ruled are your responsibility. There are some potential issues there. Most attorneys provide free consultations and offer payment options so that you can pay them a little each month until you're paid up and they will handle your case.