By Katherine Mish, Esq. of Treasure Coast Legal

Over the past few years, much to the dismay of bankruptcy attorneys and judges, the Courts have attempted to make bankruptcy paperwork easier for unrepresented individuals to file their own bankruptcy. A chapter 7 bankruptcy is viewed by many people as a simple bankruptcy - the forms are available online, and they believe they should be able to do it on their own.

Well, car manuals are also available online, but I don’t advocate fixing your own vehicle unless you have either the requisite training required, the time to invest in doing the research, and are prepared that you may completely ruin your vehicle.

A chapter 7 bankruptcy isn’t as simple as it sounds on online forums. Completing the initial filing paperwork is only the tip of the iceberg. Here are a few of the many potential consequences of filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy improperly:

1. You could lose your home.

It is widely known that in Florida the homestead exemptions exists, meaning that your unsecured creditors, with a few exceptions, cannot force the sale of your home to collect their debt. When filing without an attorney many people forget to apply the homestead exemption and their home, which means it would then be eligible to be taken and sold to satisfy their unsecured creditors. Or even when the unrepresented filer remembers to apply the exemption, it may not be proper to use the exemption. What is not that well known, is that in a bankruptcy you may not be eligible to protect the full equity of the home if you purchased it less than 1,215 days before the filing or if you have not lived in Florida the majority of the most recent two and a half years.

A bankruptcy attorney would review your home purchase and residency information with you to determine if any of this would cause a problem in your case, and ensure you are taking all of the proper exemptions.

2. You could lose assets if you fail to include them.

If you fail to disclose all of your assets and all of your debts in the bankruptcy, you could lose those assets that you failed to include and those debts that were not included could survive your discharge. This is why it is important to have a bankruptcy attorney who reviews your paperwork and assets to ensure you don’t forget any type of property and it is all disclosed in the correct section of the paperwork.

3. You could lose your discharge and potentially go to jail.

If you sell or transfer assets prior to filing bankruptcy, the sale or transfer could cause you to lose your discharge, or if it is viewed as something done to defraud your creditors, you could serve jail time for bankruptcy fraud. This is why it is very important to have an attorney review and discuss any sales and transfers you’ve made in the past in order to ensure you haven’t done something that could affect you in bankruptcy.

These are just a few of the problems people encounter when they file bankruptcy without an attorney. If you would like a free bankruptcy consultation, please contact Treasure Coast Legal at 772-621-2886.

Treasure Coast Legal offers representation in a wide variety of practice areas and is the first place to call with your legal needs. Contact us today for more information by calling 772-621-2886 or visit us online at TreasureCoastLegal.com.