I WISH TO FILE CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY AND AM TRYING TO DO IT ON MY OWN. WHAT IS THE FIRST STEP I NEED TO TAKE?

If you are truly intent on filing yourself, without an attorney, you should get a book on the subject. However, you should reconsider whether this is in your best interes.

In this country, anyone can represent themselves with any legal matter, and that includes a personal bankruptcy filing. However, filing bankruptcy under the new bankruptcy laws is very complicated and there are many risks involved when you act as your own bankruptcy lawyer.

The court can dismiss your bankruptcy petition if not filed correctly.

The new bankruptcy laws impose many obligations on debtors filing bankruptcy. They include obtaining the proper pre-petition mandatory credit counseling, demonstrating eligibility for filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy under the Means Test, filing certain documents with the court and trustee, and meeting certain important bankruptcy deadlines.

We have personally seen many pro-se bankruptcy cases dismissed because the debtors did not file the correct way or fulfill their bankrupcy obligations.

Filing personal bankruptcy is much more involved than what you would be led to believe from a "how to file bankruptcy" book. In addition to complying with the Federal Bankruptcy Rules and Procedures, you must also adhere to the local bankruptcy rules set by the Bankruptcy Court.

If you represent yourself, you can end up losing assets. On top of that, you need to know what property and possessions you can protect and how to go about doing so. Protecting assets in bankruptcy requires that you know how to use the New York exemptions. You need to know how to stop creditors and get debt relief by filing the petition for bankruptcy.

We have personally seen many bankruptcy pro-se debtors lose assets such as a car, home, tax refund and money because they did not know how to protect assets in bankruptcy.

If you are not careful, the bankruptcy trustee can sue your friends and relatives.

Certain transactions that occur before a bankruptcy filing can be set aside by the bankruptcy trustee. For example, there are "fraudulent transfer" statutes that enable a trustee to sue relatives if you give your assets to them before filing. There are also "preferential transfer" statutes in which the trustee can also sue friends or relatives if you re-pay them instead of paying your other creditors.

We have personally seen many trustees go after friends and relatives of pro-se debtors who did not know that pre-bankruptcy transactions could cause a lot of trouble later on.

Beware of Bankruptcy Petition Preparers.

A company that prepares bankruptcy petitions is not allowed to give you any legal advice. Only an attorney can give bankruptcy legal advice. Just because a paralegal or typing service is preparing your petition does not mean that it is being done in a way that will properly protect you. We have seen many cases where debtors who used a bankruptcy petition preparer saw their case go out of control.

Play it safe and retain an experienced bankruptcy attorney.

Determining the answers to all of the above questions is no easy task. Merely filling out bankruptcy forms will not necessarily mean that you will get a bankruptcy discharge or that you will receive bankruptcy protection for all of your assets.

An experienced bankruptcy attorney can answer all of your questions, prepare bankruptcy forms properly, help you do the credit counseling, prepare the means test, file the bankruptcy petition with the bankruptcy court, file the appropriate documents with the bankruptcy trustee, and ensure that you do not run afoul of any other issues or bankruptcy laws. We develop a bankruptcy plan to enable you to get out of debt.

Your state of Florida has many qualified bankrutpcy attorneys.