Do it yourself bankruptcy. Yes, you can do it. But as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. If you want to represent yourself in court you have several options…

Do it all by yourself. In other words, you’re going to have to collect all of your financial information by calculating your debt in the form of collection statements and other outstanding payments. You’re going to have to get your credit report from all three credit bureaus and go through credit counseling. You’re also going to have to file a petition and go through the court proceedings. If you go this route, you’re going to have to educate yourself about the complicated bankruptcy process. Although a lawyer may cost around $1,500, if you think about, you may be saving yourself money by hiring a lawyer because you really need to understand bankruptcy law to make sure that you do it perfectly, and that can take a lot of your time. I’m all for ambition and the “can do” attitude, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay up. Although going the pro se (representing yourself) route was a good option pre-2005, in 2005 bankruptcy laws were reformed, making it much harder for individuals to represent themselves in court.

Hire a bankruptcy petition preparer to help you do it yourself. They charge small fees (usually around $200), but they do what you pay them to do (help you with the bankruptcy forms). “Help” means that they will make you forms with the information that you tell them to put into the form. As such, petition preparers are only as good as the information that you give to them. They are not a substitute for legal advice, although they may claim that using their service is just as good as hiring a lawyer. You, will have to tell the typing service (as they are alternatively called), what chapter bankruptcy you are going to file and what assets and liabilities/debts you have to list. If you make one mistake you may lose certain assets and not exempt yourself from certain debts, which could have easily been avoided had you hired a good lawyer.    

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Low Cost Bankruptcy Service: How to Lower the Cost of Bankruptcy

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And, of course, I have this do it yourself bankruptcy hub!