New Jersey Bankruptcy Blog

Every debtor must complete a financial management course and file the appropriate documents with the court, regarding such course, no later than 60 days after the initial date of the first scheduled Meeting of Creditors’ Hearing.
The course takes about 2 1/2 hours and may be completed online or by telephone. The subject matter of the course relates to how to proceed financially after obtaining a chapter 7 discharge. More specifically, the course explains how the discharge effects your credit report, how to create a budget and how to avoid future financial issues. The course also explains how to avoid scams relating to your credit.
If the debtor fails to complete the course and file the appropriate documents with the court in a timely manner, the debtor’s case will be closed without a discharge. This means that the debtor will still owe all of the debt and the bankruptcy filing will not have benefited the debtor. However, typically, the court will allow the debtor to obtain a discharge out of time, if the debtor completes the course and obtains the course certification.  Under this scenario, the debtor must file a Motion with the court requesting to reopen the case, file the documents, and request the discharge.
At the time this blog was written, the court costs to reopen a chapter 7 case is $260.00, which is totally ridiculous.
If you need a bankruptcy lawyer in NJ, Robert Manchel, is interested in assisting you with your bankruptcy questions, at 1 (866) 503-5655.

Every debtor must complete a personal financial management course, that is provided by a New Jersey Bankruptcy Court approved credit counseling company. The course must be completed, with a certification filed with the court, within 60 days from the date of the first scheduled Meeting of Creditors’ hearing date.  The list of approved counseling agencies may be obtained through a link from the home page of the NJ. bankruptcy court’s website.
The course may be taken through the web or by way of a telephone conference. The course is not a pass/fail test, but rather, an approximate 3 hour course, informing the debtor as to how to deal with their life and finances post bankruptcy. The counseling agency provides a certificate reflecting that the course has been completed. Thereafter, the debtor must complete and sign another certification that reflects the counseling agency’s certificate number, which must be filed with the court.
If the debtor has not filed the appropriate certificate with the court, in a timely manner, their case will be dismissed. Thereafter, the debtor will likely be permitted to take the course, file a Motion to Reopen the Case, and file the certificate, to obtain a discharge. However, the cost of reopening a chapter 7 case, at the time of the this blog is $260.00.
Robert Manchel, a bankruptcy lawyer in New Jersey, may be contacted at 1 (866) 503-5655 to discuss your options for bankruptcy protection.

A debtor may personally request that the bankruptcy discharge be denied by executing a written waiver that is approved by the court.
This is extremely unusual. Typically, an individual would only agree to such a waiver if they believed that the court would not have granted them a discharge.  For example, a debtor may prefer to sign a waiver rather than defend a Trustee’s Complaint requesting to deny the debtor a discharge. Also, a debtor may prefer to avoid the publication of embarrassing information that may be related to a creditor or trustee’s court submissions regarding a discharge contest.
It may be possible for only one joint debtor to execute the waiver, thereby permitting the other joint debtor to receive a discharge.
If you need a bankruptcy attorney in NJ, Robert Manchel may be contacted at 1 (866) 503-5655, to discuss any questions you may have regarding bankruptcy protection.