Getting Your Financial Documents in Order

If you and your attorney decide that filing bankruptcy pleadings is the best option for you, then you’ll need to take some time to organize your financial information. Basically, depending on the type of bankruptcy case you’ll be filing, you could need any number of documents and records in order to help prepare for the start of your case.

These items could include your bank statements, your recent tax returns, any and all documentation relating to auto loans or your mortgage, any and all credit card statements, any student loan statements and the like. In short, anything that relates to your finances should be included in your initial organizational efforts, as it’s always better to provide your attorney with too much information than not enough, as the mistake of omitting any relevant account, asset or debt could prove to be extremely damaging to your case.

The Initial Court Pleadings

After you’ve gathered and organized all of your financial information, your bankruptcy attorney will begin the process of completing the initial steps involved with filing bankruptcy pleadings. While each chapter in the United States Bankruptcy Code calls for a few different variations in terms of what you’ll need to include in those initial pleadings, the basic pleadings include a petition for protection from the court, schedules of all of your assets and liabilities and a request for the court to accept your filing and to take the appropriate steps in response to it.

Oklahoma Court’s Typical Response to Filing Bankruptcy

When the court receives valid Oklahoma bankruptcy filing documents, there are specific steps it needs to take when it opens your case. The first step involves alerting your creditors that you are filing bankruptcy pleadings. This is done for several reasons. Of most importance to you is that the court will usually issue what’s known as an Automatic Stay.

An Automatic Stay is the order from the court that provides you with instant relief, as it’s basically an order that prevents your creditors from continuing their collection efforts. The court also provides notice to the creditors that they need to file what’s known as a Notice of Claim, which is a legal document that will allow that creditor’s debt to remain relevant to your case in their hopes that they will recover at least some of what you owe them.

The court will also schedule a hearing or creditors’ meeting, depending on the chapter of the code under which you file and alert the creditors of this date. The purpose of this hearing is to provide an opportunity for the debtor to assert that everything contained in the petitions is true and accurate and for the creditors to either challenge the schedules or to provide input on a payment plan if the debtor is filing bankruptcy pleadings under Chapter 13 or Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.