Gurnee Bankruptcy Attorney States That Both Spouses Must Attend Cred...

The answer is yes.  Each debtor, whether it is husband or wife, needs to take the credit counseling session.  You can take the credit counseling session together at the same time.  However, you both must be present at the time of the credit counseling.  If one party were to do the credit counseling and the other were not to do the credit counseling, there would be falsehoods filed with the court.  What I mean by that is the credit counseling certificate would not be accurate.  The person would not be able to testify under oath that they in fact took the credit counseling prior to filing, and their case would be subject to being dismissed because of a failure to take the credit counseling session. 

The company that I’m recommending these days does it over the phone.  It could last anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour.  The credit counselor will interview both parties on the phone.  The cost is approximately $25.00 at this time.  And both parties will feel that they got something out of the credit counseling and that they were counseled.  If this doesn’t happen, if one party takes it and the other doesn’t then there are going to be false documents filed with the court and I don’t want to be part of any case like that.  

As far as the two-hour financial management class, which is taken after the case is filed, once again, the parties must each submit to the two-hour financial management class.  If they do not, there are going to be false documents filed.  The certificates are not going to be accurate, and the case is subject to close without a discharge.  Now if the case closes without a discharge that means that the debtor did not get the benefit of a bankruptcy.  They wasted all that time and all that money and did not get the benefit of the fresh start, simply because he or she did not take the two-hour financial management class in a timely fashion.     

What I like to do is I like to have my clients have that two-hour financial management class finalized and completed prior to their 341 meeting of creditors.  This way, when they have their one court date, we already know that the two-hour financial management class requirement is satisfied.  That way we know that there is nothing else that the debtor has to do other than wait on their discharge letter, which should come in the next two to three months after their meeting of creditors.  

In the rare case where I have a client who has not taken the two-hour financial management class prior to the 341 meeting of creditors, we will send a follow-up letter insisting that they do so immediately so that they don’t run the risk of having their case closed without a discharge.  Now if the case closes without a discharge, we can bring a motion to reopen the case and get a discharge.  However, there’s a $260.00 filing fee at the time of this recording, and there’s going to be attorney’s fees above and beyond the $260.00 that has to be paid to the court.  So a client could be looking at anywhere from $600.00 to $800.00 additional just to reopen the case, file the two-hour financial management class certificate, and then have the case closed with a discharge.  So you see it’s certainly in your best interest to take that two-hour class as soon as possible after the case is filed, no later than the 341 meeting, and by all means no later than a week after the 341 meeting if you fail to take it by the 341 meeting.         

I want to make sure that my clients’ cases run smoothly.  In order to do that I put them on a tight time frame so that we don’t miss any deadlines and so the debtor is not harmed.