There are agencies and individuals who run businesses which assist individuals in preparing legal documents for a fee. These agencies will help debtors by taking information supplied by the debtor(s) and creating the forms necessary for filing a bankruptcy case. They may be helpful to you in explaining general procedures. They are not attorneys and are not allowed to give legal advice as part of their services. They cannot represent debtors in court. The Preparer must completeForm B19.  This form must be filed with the bankruptcy petition and schedules.

Yes, it should.  After you file your  bankruptcy petition with the court commencing a case, the Clerk's office will send a written notice of your bankruptcy filing to all of your creditors at the addresses you list on your creditor mailing list.  Although this notice goes out within one to two days of case filing, it may take up to a week or longer for creditors to receive this notice because of mail time.  If a creditor calls after you have filed your petition, simply tell them you have filed for bankruptcy, give them the case number and the district (the state in which you filed), and indicate that they will receive notice of this in the mail.  If the creditor was not listed on your mailing list, you shoud amend your bankruptcy schedules with the Clerk's office so that future notices about your bankruptcy can be sent to that creditor.  Adding a creditor later on requires a fee.  It is important to make sure you list all your creditors on your initial creditor list, because if a creditor doesn't get notice of your bankruptcy, his debt might not be discharged in your bankruptcy, and adding them later on will cost you more money.

Once a creditor receives notice of your bankruptcy filing, they may not attempt collection of a debt from you unless they follow certain actions, such as obtaining relief from stay, allowed by the court.  If a creditor continues to try to collect a debt from you after being notifed of your bankruptcy,  you should contact an attorney immediately for advice.

There is a glossary of bankruptcy terms on our website.  You can look up words used in bankruptcy that are not familiar to you there.

Chapter 7: Often called the "liquidation chapter," Chapter 7 is used by individuals, partnerships, or corporations who have no hope for repairing their financial situation. In Chapter 7, the debtor's estate is liquidated under the rules of the Bankruptcy Code. Liquidation is the process through which the debtor's non-exempt property is sold for cash by a case trustee and the cash is distributed to creditors. At the conclusion of this process, individual debtors receive a discharge of their dischargeable debts.
 
Chapter 11: Often called the "reorganization chapter," Chapter 11 allows corporations, partnerships, and individuals to reorganize their debts, without having to liquidate all their assets. In a Chapter 11 case, the debtor presents a plan to creditors which, if accepted by the creditors and approved by the Court, will allow the debtor to reorganize personal, financial or business affairs and again become financially productive.
 
Chapter 13: An individual with regular income who is overcome by debts, but believes such debts can be repaid within a reasonable period of time, may file under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 13 permits the debtor to file a plan in which the debtor agrees to pay a certain percentage of future income to the Bankruptcy Court for payment to creditors. If the Court approves the plan, the debtor will be under the Court's protection while repaying such debts.