What Pro Se Bankruptcy Filing Is
Pro Se Bankruptcy filing is a bankruptcy client’s filing his or her own case without the benefit of a bankruptcy attorney.
Problems with Pro Se Bankruptcy Filing
Though many bankruptcy cases may seem routine, the simplest bankruptcy case is complex enough that an experienced bankruptcy attorney is important. Bankruptcy documents are filed under penalty of perjury. If a Pro Se client does not understand all the legal terminology involved with the bankruptcy documents the Pro Se client will be unable to complete the bankruptcy schedules and statements truthfully, which is not a minor issue.
Pro Se bankruptcy filers often misunderstand all the bankruptcy documents which need to be filed and by what date, which often results into the dismissal of the Pro Se bankruptcy filer’s bankruptcy case for failure to timely file certain documents.
Pro Se bankruptcy filers often misunderstand the limits of what property is exempt, which may result in the loss of assets in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, which would have been avoided if a bankruptcy attorney had been retained.
The court may enter a prohibition from filing a new case for 180 days after the dismissal, which may be disastrous for a Pro Se client facing a foreclosure sale within 180 days after the case dismissal.
The bankruptcy Trustee may more closely scrutinize the bankruptcy documents of a Pro Se filer due to the expectation that the Pro Se filer is not very skilled at bankruptcy document preparation.
Frank Ledbetter, the principal bankruptcy attorney for Ledbetter Law Firm, LLC has rescued Pro Se bankruptcy filers including helping a Pro Se Chapter 7 bankruptcy filer avoid having her discharge revoked, which would have resulted in all the debts that client owed at the time of her case filing never being dischargeable. Frank Ledbetter also helped clients who filed a bankruptcy Pro Se who had their case dismissed with a 180 day prohibition from re-filing who were facing a foreclosure sale and needed re-filing. Frank Ledbetter was able to get the 180 day prohibition from re-filing vacated and to file a Chapter 13 case for the clients, which stopped the foreclosure sale of their home.