It is Highly Recommended to Retain an Attorney for Filing a Bankruptcy

I would not recommend anyone do a Chapter 13 on their own because the success rate for what we call Pro Se Filers in a Chapter 13 is 1 per cent. Only 1 per cent of cases that are Pro Se make it to discharge, make it all the way through the plan and get that discharged. A discharge is a legal defense to pay back the debt, it is frankly the point of bankruptcy, it’s why you do it. And only 1 per cent of people who do it by themselves actually obtain that discharge. So, the first step, frankly, would be to seek out a local attorney and most of them offer free consultations and sit down with an attorney and go over everything; why are you considering bankruptcy in the first place? It’s usually one of the first questions I ask anybody who comes into my office. Why are you considering bankruptcy? What is that brought you to this decision? And then, we go from there.