Fairly darn quick.
Actually, I can put together and file an emergency case the similar day you name. However, and it is a massive BUT, there are some issues it’s essential to do first.
A full chapter petition is a large authorized doc. It’s normally 65-85 pages lengthy, not counting the copies of 6 months of your paystubs and your final 2 years of tax returns. Fortunately, you don’t must file a full petition to cease a garnishment. You possibly can file a skeleton, or skeletal petition, which is actually a bare-bones petition.

What a skeletal petition wants:
- your title/social/tackle
- your on-line bk class certificates (this takes you 1 hour to finish)
- a listing of collectors.
- cost to your lawyer BEFORE you file.
Why do attorneys hate skeletons?
I do know, it sounds simple, however there’s so much that goes into it. Chapter attorneys hate submitting skeletal petitions. The explanation why is easy: if you’re taking emergency measures and brief cuts, you may actually screw up a case. Your chapter lawyer has to do his “due diligence” in your case, which means that he has put the effort and time into reviewing your property to just remember to don’t have one thing that you just’ll lose in chapter. Examples embrace an excessive amount of fairness in your house or automotive, or an enormous tax refund that you just haven’t obtained but, or perhaps even an inheritance.
For example, I had a shopper as soon as who had the rights to a small portion of the royalties from a James Taylor tune. (I consider this case each time I hear “Fireplace and Rain” on the radio. His portion of royalties amounted to assured earnings of round $300 a month. If I had filed a chapter 7, the chapter trustee would have bought that proper and used the cash to repay collectors. As a substitute, we filed a chapter 13 and used that month-to-month earnings to make a really modest cost to collectors over 5 years. If I had filed a skeleton with out all the info, my shopper would have misplaced the precise to obtain $300ish a month for the remainder of his life. That’s an enormous deal.
Why do skeletons work?
In lots of chapter instances, my purchasers don’t have a proverbial “pot to piss in.” In actuality, they most likely do personal a minimum of one pot, however their property are minimal or are protected by our state exemptions. If I can rigorously evaluation their property intimately earlier than we file, there’s not a lot room for error. It helps that I’m outdated and have carried out this hundreds of instances.
Simply do not forget that your lawyer goes to wish to receives a commission earlier than he does the work. He may also must drop all the pieces else he’s doing to organize the petition. It’s a problem, for you, for him, and for everybody concerned. However, it may be carried out.
Here’s a video I made on submitting a skeletal petition (and sure, I do know my face is humorous. The left facet doesn’t work, so recover from it).
And right here’s an earlier weblog publish on the identical problem: https://robertspaynelaw.com/myutahbankruptcyblog/2015/04/06/how-long-does-it-take-to-prepare-the-bankruptcy-paperwork-in-an-emergency/