Law Office
of
Donald L. Fritzen
417 East Fremont St.
Laramie, WY. 82072
-(307) 745-7091
Bankruptcy Services
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Notice
Donald L. Fritzen
Wyoming Bankruptcy Attorney
Minimum Residency Requirement
You must be a resident in the state in which you are filing for the greater part of the last 180 days, so for at least 91 days. If you have not resided in Wyoming for 91 days, you can file in the state where you have resided, or which has been your principal place of business or which has been the location of your principal assets for the majority of the last 180 days.
Bankruptcy Preventions
You cannot file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy if you had a previous bankruptcy dismissed within the preceding 180 days because either:
1. You failed to obey court orders, or
2. You voluntarily requested the dismissal after the filing for relief from the automatic stay by one of your creditors.
You cannot receive a discharge in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy if you received a prior Chapter 7 discharge within the last 8 years. You may however still receive a Chapter 7 discharge if you filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy in the last 6 years and repaid at least 70% of your unsecured debt back in that prior Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Transfers of Property to Defraud Creditors
The court may deny you a discharge if you have attempted to defraud a creditor by transferring or concealing property before the filing of your petition for bankruptcy. In these cases, a Bankruptcy Trustee has the power to recover the transferred property from the person(s) to whom you transferred it. The trustee may then liquidate the property and use the proceeds to repay your creditors.
Preferential Payments to Relatives
If you repay $600 or more to one of your relatives or business partners (also called "insiders") within one year prior to filing bankruptcy, it is known as a preferential payment. The Bankruptcy Trustee has the power to recover preferential payments from the people to whom you made them and use that money to repay your creditors.
Preferential Payment to a Creditor
If you repay $600 or more to an individual creditor within 90 days prior to filing your petition for bankruptcy, it is considered a preferential payment. The Chapter 7 Trustee has the power to recover preferential payments from the creditors to whom you made the payments and use that money to repay other creditors.
Luxury Purchases
If you incur $500 or more of "luxury goods or services" credit from any individual creditor within the 90-day period before your bankruptcy petition is filed, the debt is presumed to be non-dischargeable and you may have to repay this debt.
Credit Card Cash Advances
If you incur $750 or more of credit card cash advances within 70-day period before your bankruptcy petition is filed, the debt is presumed to be non-dischargeable and you may have to repay this debt..
341 Meeting Required Attendance
Approximately 30-45 days after the filing of your bankruptcy petition, a Section 341 Meeting of the Creditors is held. You and your attorney are required to attend this meeting and testify under oath as to the accuracy of your filed petition. If you do not attend the 341 Meeting, your case can be dismissed, and you have a record of bankruptcy on your credit report without having the benefit of receiving a discharge of your debt.
Credit Counseling & Financial Management Course Required
180 Days prior to petition filing
Within the 180 day period before filing bankruptcy you must receive a credit counseling briefing/course from an approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency. This counseling briefing is a question and answer session with an approved credit counselor who tries to help you see if there is a way you could repay your debt and avoid bankruptcy. Although you are required to complete the credit counseling within that 180 day period, you can take the course and file as soon as you complete the counseling. In other words, you do not have to wait 180 days from completing the counseling to file bankruptcy. However, your bankruptcy can not be filed until you do complete the course.
60 days post 341 Meeting
To discharge debts through bankruptcy, you must complete a post-petition financial management course within 60 days after your 341 Meeting. You must complete your post-petition financial management course within the 60 days following the creditors’ meeting but you can not complete the course before the before the § 341 creditors’ meeting. I asked clients to complete the course within 45 days of the creditors’ meeting to give me time to submit the necessary documentation to the bankruptcy court and U.S. Trustee’s Office. This course is of an instructional nature and is tailored around managing your personal finances after bankruptcy. If the course is not completed within the allotted time period, you may not receive a discharge.