Escondido, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

First things first: consult an experienced bankruptcy lawyer. It's almost always worth it. That said, with your income you probably would have to file under Ch. 13 if you wanted the benefits of bankruptcy. The answer can only be finally determined by filling in and evaluating the Means Test which Congress introduced about ten years ago. The only sure thing one can say in advance of doing that is that if your income is below the median for a household of your size in your State, you can file Ch. 7. Otherwise you have to get the bottom line from the Means Test. In Wisconsin the median income for a household of 1 is about $44,000.00. If your arrangement were treated as a household of 2 (listing your roommate's contribution to expenses as income), the median is about $59,000. As to your roommate's credit, it should not be affected by your bankruptcy HOWEVER, the credit reporting bureaux are not very good at discerning what's really happened behind the information they receive, and they have been known to make mistakes like attributing your bankruptcy to her. So perhaps 2 months after you file you should each check your credit report (which is available for free online) and notify the credit reporting people of any erros. I hope this answers your question. Good Luck.

I assume you mean ordinary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. You can get the petition and all necessary papers from the nearest Bankruptcy Court right away, by visiting the court or its web site, and you can file it just as soon as you get it prepared and take the first required course in credit counseling. That can be done in a day or so. As soon as you file, you'll be given a date for the meeting of creditors, about two months after the filing date, depending on the court and the trustee.? If everything goes smoothly there and that's the usual case and after you take your second debt management course, you'll receive a notice of discharge soon thereafter, and that's it. The filing fee is something over $300, and an attorney will charge you between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars. It's worth it to consult one even if you don't end up hiring an attorney to handle your case.