Voluntary Petition

• First and foremost, you need to prepare your bankruptcy petition. You can file the bankruptcy petition alone, without your other bankruptcy forms. You must have the required filing fee to commence your case in a Texas bankruptcy court. Then you must file the remainder of your bankruptcy forms within 14 days of the date you filed the petition. Official Form B1 is the voluntary bankruptcy petition. The petition requests that you disclose the latest information on your financial condition by listing your assets and debts, the property you own and the location of that property. The petition essentially asks for basic information that the bankruptcy court can use to commence your case. In other forms, you will provide this information in greater detail. The filing of the petition immediately prevents your creditors from attempting to collect from you.
  
  

Property

• Inform the bankruptcy court of the property you own on Schedules A, B and C. Your real property goes on Schedule A. List your personal property on Schedule B. You should provide a description of the property, the location of the property and the amount of your interest in the property. Schedule C is provided for you to list property you are claiming as exempt. If you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you need to claim certain property as exempt so that a bankruptcy trustee cannot sell that property to pay your creditors.
  
  

Creditors

• On Schedules D, E, and F, you will list the claims that your creditors hold. Schedule D requires that you list your secured creditors. Those are creditors that can take your property if you do not pay them. Schedule E asks for your priority unsecured creditors. These are creditors that absolutely must be paid, whether you receive a discharge in bankruptcy or not. Schedule F asks you to list your nonpriority secured creditors. These creditors are the last to receive payment.
  
  

Income Calculations

• Probably the most complicated form you will need to file is the Chapter 7 Statement of Current Monthly Income and Means Test Calculation or the Chapter 13 Statement of Current Monthly Income and Calculation of Commitment Period and Disposable Income. The former ends in a determination of whether you can file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and the latter ends with the determination of the commitment period for your Chapter 13 debt repayment plan. Both of these forms require that you use your income and expenses to make these calculations.