I am filing pro se because I have no extra money to pay an attorney. I think I have a straight bankruptcy case, though, without any income and assets at this time. Currently, I am temporarily living with a friend until my situation hopefully improves. Would I need to be living with this friend for 3 months or 6 months to file for bankruptcy in the state this person lives? I am confused what to write for the number people in my household since the friend I am living with is not family or someone I will live with long term. Can I just write one person in my household?
Do all Chapter 7 bankruptcies require a Proof of Claim (Form B-10)? Can I keep my medical reasons private as reason fro filing for bankruptcy or do I have to specify the medical surgery or treatment I needed?
Most people who can't afford an attorney to represent them in bankruptcy don't really need the benefits of bankruptcy. Without any income or assets, what's the creditor going to take from you? To file bankruptcy in a state, we look at where you have lived during the previous 6 months. Only when you have lived longer in your current home state than in any other state (3 months plus 1 day) can you file where you live. But then there is more. Which you don't need to know because you probably don't need bankruptcy. Hope this perspective helps!
If you are too poor to hire a lawyer, at least contact a Legal Services organization or don't file until you can afford to. It is too important and too complicated to do pro se.
You do not need to file a proof of claim. Your creditors would file a proof of claim in the event that the trustee determines you have assets to be distributed.
You should rethink filing without an attorney. As your questions indicate you do not know what you are doing and the risk of messing something up is pretty high.
You need to live in the state in which you are about to file for the greater part of 180 days or at least 91 days. Where I practice you would file as a household of 1 though you would have to report as income any expenses your friend pays on your behalf.
Robert W GambrellChapter 13 Bankruptcy AttorneyOxford, MS ·
There are no questions in your bankruptcy schedules or other documents that ask you why you are filing. Thus, no information about your medical condition will be required. The proof of claim is a document that the creditors file if the case is an asset case.
If you are having difficulty with these issues, there are bunch of issues that you probably will not realize are important. This is the reason that pro se chapter 7 debtors are 8 times more likely to have their case dismissed than debtors that are represented by counsel.
Filing for bankruptcy is very difficult to do on your own. I have seen attorneys who don't regularly practice bankruptcy make mistakes in filing so you can imagine some of the poor results of individuals who file pro se. Some people regret their decision to file without legal assistance when the case turns out to be problematic. You indicated that you hope to have a job in then future. If it appears that you will be getting that job in the near future (say within 6 months or so) and have no current law suits or virtually no non-exempt assets, you may consider waiting to file and hiring an experienced bankruptcy lawyer then. This is true especially if you expect that your future job won't result in a salary that is substantially greater than the median income of approximately $48,000. Best of luck, Barbie D. Lieber
