Waukegan Bankruptcy Attorney Advised Against Filing Pro Se

There are other things that you need to consider if you are thinking of filing on your own states Waukegan bankruptcy attorney.  You are going to be held to the same standard as that of an attorney.  Thus, you’re going to have to know how to bring the appropriate motions.  Let me give you one example where filing on your own will backfire.  If you are filing a Chapter 13 and you’ve already had one case dismissed within a year, then you must bring a motion within 30 days to extend the automatic stay, otherwise this day will automatically ends.  Someone who is trying to file a bankruptcy case multiple times because they don’t know the system will likely not know to bring that motion to extend the stay within 30 days.  This is just one sample of how things can backfire. 

In a Chapter 7 case, the person must take a two-hour financial management class after the case is filed but prior to the case going to discharge.  If you, as a pro se filer, fail to take the two-hour financial management class, then the case will close without a discharge.  A case closing without a discharge means you don’t get the benefit of the debt relief.  Thus, you either have to refile your case or you have to bring a motion to reopen the bankruptcy case and ask for permission to take the financial course and file the necessary certificate.

 These are things that you will not have to worry about if you put your case in the hands of a qualified, skilled, experienced bankruptcy attorney.  I recommend that you find an attorney who practices bankruptcy as their bread and butter and who doesn’t dabble in bankruptcy here and there when a case arises.  

I am a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and a former member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.  I have been practicing bankruptcy for 20 years and I have made it my life’s work.  You can rest assured that when I am handling your case, that deadlines are going to be met or you are going to at least know about the deadlines and the failure to comply is going to be on you, not on the law firm. 

So it is worth the money to spend on a qualified attorney who can handle your case.  Hopefully this is the only time that you are going to need debt relief and the only time that you are going to need to file bankruptcy in your life.  Why not put it in the hands of a professional who can actually take you from start to finish with the least amount of stress and the least amount of pain.  That is my recommendation, to not file bankruptcy on your own but instead use a qualified bankruptcy attorney who can help you.