Bankruptcy is a paperwork process. Your attorney does the legal work; your job is to produce an accurate picture of your finances. Cases go wrong far more often from incomplete disclosure than from anything complicated.
What you will need
Income. Several months of pay records for everyone in the household, and the last couple of years of tax returns. If you are self-employed, profit and loss information — and if that does not exist in any organised form, say so early.
Debts. Every creditor, not just the ones causing pain. Cards, medical bills, personal loans, money owed to family, old accounts sold to collectors, court judgments. A free credit report from all three bureaus will catch things you have forgotten.
Property. Home, vehicles, bank accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance with cash value, anything valuable.
Recent moves. Property you have sold or given away, repayments to relatives, large transfers. This is where cases get complicated, and it is much better handled in advance.
Two required courses
You will need a credit counselling course before filing and a financial education course afterwards, both from approved providers. They are short, usually done online, and inexpensive. The list of approved providers is published by the U.S. Trustee Program — use an approved one, or the certificate does not count.
The one rule
List everything. Every debt, every asset, every transfer, including the ones that feel embarrassing or that you are sure are irrelevant.
You will sign these documents under penalty of perjury. Leaving something out to look better is the one move that turns an ordinary case into a serious problem. Attorneys have seen every version of a messy situation. They have not seen a version that gets better by being hidden.
If you are overwhelmed
Start one box, one folder, one afternoon. Put everything in it unsorted. Your attorney’s office will help you organise it — sorting it is the part they do all day. Not starting because you cannot face doing it perfectly is how people lose a year.