Filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a serious matter. That’s why California has established a formal document — the Rights and Responsibilities Agreement (RARA) — that outlines both your attorney’s rights and responsibilities and your rights and responsibilities. You can download a PDF of a document prepared by the United States Bankruptcy Court here.

The RARA is designed to protect you by establishing a flat fee agreement between the attorney and client. It also streamlines the process by allowing the attorney to be paid without doing a supplemental fee application with the court. 

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There are many complexities to filing Chapter 13 bankruptcies. People often think it’s just a matter of asking, “Do I qualify, and how do I file?”

Those are legitimate questions, but there are many other aspects that you should be aware of if you’re considering Chapter 13. Here are three that you may not have thought of, but should.

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High credit card debt can be especially troublesome because so many credit cards charge a very high rate of interest. It can be as high as 20-30 percent on outstanding balances. When this is the case, and a person has maxed out their credit limit, they can go on making minimum payments and never or barely reduce the balance.

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Bankruptcy and discharge of bankruptcy can be fairly straightforward when a couple is married. When one spouse files for bankruptcy, their discharge protects the couple’s community assets. As long as the couple is married throughout the process, that’s pretty much the end of the story.

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