Bankruptcy Petition Preparation Services

What could be better? Just when you have a huge financial problem, someone offers to prepare bankruptcy paperwork inexpensively. So goes the reasoning behind the boom in businesses offering to prepare legal documents without the cost of an attorney.

The concept seems fine. The Bankruptcy Code and Rules specify very clearly the form and general content required in all documents filed in a bankruptcy case. Fill in the blanks...why pay an attorney a lot of money just to fill in a form? If that were all there were to it, it might be a good business to invest in. Unfortunately, just about everyone that starts such a business has run afoul of the law. It is called "unauthorized practice of law" or UPL.

Businesses that proclaim they have many years of experience preparing bankruptcy petitions are often run by paralegals or clerks that DO have many years experience preparing the documents...under the supervision of an attorney. If the preparer recommends, suggests or even just enters an exemption on one of your assets without your specific instruction, they have practiced law without a license. In courts around the United States, petition preparers are being brought before federal courts and being found guilty. Does every preparer violate the law? Probably not. But if you have a service prepare your bankruptcy petition and something is wrong, you risk having your bankrupty granted but not all of your debts discharged, or having it dismissed with a limitation on your ability to file again.

Last comment, if you are considering a bankruptcy petition preparation service because you are going to try and hide assets or income and you don't think an attorney will let you...DON'T DO IT.

Beyond the damage it may cause the preparer, it can get you thrown into FEDERAL PRISON...it happens all the time.