Bankruptcy gives you the opportunity to have a breather to allow you to get your financial situation back under control. Once upon a time if you had serious debts you would end up in a prison, so having to face the United States bankruptcy proof of claim court is nothing in comparison to how things once were.

Bankruptcy: the absolute last resort

It is no secret that declaring bankruptcy will stay on an individual’s credit record for ten years, so naturally one considers all available options before considering bankruptcy.  United States bankruptcy proof of claim court’s rules and regulations differ from state to state.  The only state you need to worry about is the state you live in (or state of your primary residence.)   You can do this all on your own or hire a lawyer.  If you are not familiar with the United States bankruptcy proof of claim court, then it will be cheaper in the long run to hire a lawyer.  With the help of your lawyer you will have to make the decide between a Chapter seven bankruptcy (liquidation of everything you own) or a Chapter 13 (more a repayment plan).

A Proof of Claim needs to be filed within 90 days of your meetings with your main creditors (banks or credit card companies, for example).  You are called the debtor.  Whoever you owe money to is called a creditor.  They have to give you about 100 days before they have a meeting with you (called a “341 meeting”) where you officially declare bankruptcy.  The creditors have to file Proof of Claim forms, not you, with the United States bankruptcy proof of claim court.  If they don’t do this on time, they will loose any right to your financial corpse, so to speak.

Some additional things you should know

A very important thing to remember is that when declaring bankruptcy you do not want to be seen using your credit cards as this will look bad to pretty much all United States bankruptcy proof of claim courts throughout the country.

You don’t need to worry about your landlord or employer hearing about your bankruptcy unless of course you owe them money. It is required by federal law that your employer, landlord etc do not have to be notified of your bankruptcy situation. Anyone can of course look up the public records and find out about your bankruptcy proceedings, however we all know that nobody does this unless of course you were just starting out in a new job.