Filing An Emergency Bankruptcy Petition Creates Strict Deadlines
So you just received an earnings withholding order and don’t want to lose 25% of your income to wage garnishment. You call a local bankruptcy lawyer and find out that you can stop the garnishment by filing bankruptcy. In fact, the attorney tells you that he can file your bankruptcy petition electronically that very day. With the bankruptcy petition electronically filed the automatic stay prevents the wage garnishment from taking effect allowing you to keep your full paycheck. However, this emergency bankruptcy filing has created another problem: you have 2 weeks to file the rest of your documents with the court
The Time Pressure
This two week deadline will put pressure on you and your attorney. You will have less than two weeks to give your attorney 6 months of pay checks and bank statements and two years of tax returns. Your attorney will have whatever time is left within that two week period to draft your schedules, statement of financial affairs, statement of intentions, and other documents filed with the bankruptcy court. In reality, you will probably have 1 week to give your attorney your documents and he will have less than 1 week to draft your remaining schedules and related documents.
The Lesson
Don’t put off speaking with a bankruptcy attorney. If you are in financial difficulty get legal advice early on at https://santarosabankruptcy.us instead of at the last minute. As soon as you’re served with a lawsuit that you cannot afford to pay call a bankruptcy lawyer. By speaking with a bankruptcy lawyer early on in the collection process you are giving yourself more time to get your documents in order. The attorney can draft a complete bankruptcy petition and avoid the strict deadlines posed by an emergency filing.