How To File Bankruptcy for Free in Georgia

Collect Your Georgia Bankruptcy Documents

Gathering the documents you need early on will help you stay organized and reduce stress.  

Need to have documents include:

• The last two years of tax returns to help report your income.

• Paycheck stubs for the past 60 days (including the month you want to file in) to help create a picture of your income and expenses. 

• Bank statements for the last six months. You also need your most recent statement that includes your filing date when you file your case..

Nice to have documents include:

• Additional bank statements for the past 6-12 months will help to create a clearer picture and provide a foundation for your post-bankruptcy budget.

• A copy of your credit report. You can get a free copy of your report every year from each one of the three consumer reporting agencies. This will help you make a list of your creditors called the creditor matrix. It might take time to get this together, but this is the list of people who will get a letter from the bankruptcy court saying they can’t call you about your debt anymore, so make sure you include everyone!

• Creditor statements/bills like credit card bills, medical bills, and student loan statements. These will help with your creditor list.

• Letters from collection agencies or other third-party debt collectors. This could include foreclosure and repossession notices. These will help with your creditor list.

Take a Credit Counseling Course

Once you have your documents, you’re ready for the next step: a credit counseling course! Sign up with a Georgia-approved course provider and plan to complete the course in the 180-day period before you file. There is a fee, but you can apply for a waiver if you need it. The class itself only takes about 1.5–2 hours and you can choose to take it over the phone or online. (In-person classes are not currently available due to COVID-19). Once you’ve taken the course, you should receive a certificate of completion. Keep this certificate with your other bankruptcy documents as you’ll need to submit it with your petition when you file.

Complete the Bankruptcy Forms

There are two types of forms when filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Georgia:

1. National forms: These are the Chapter 7 forms that are the same across the country. You can download the forms for free as fillable PDFs. 

2. Georgia bankruptcy forms: Some forms are required when filing bankruptcy in Georgia even though they’re not required in other states. They’re called "local forms.” You find find a list of required local forms by district in the Georgia Bankruptcy Forms section below.

If you’re working with a law firm, they’ll ask you questions and use the information you provide to generate your forms. If you use Upsolve’s free filing tool, you’ll answer an online questionnaire and our software will prepare your forms. 

Get Your Filing Fee

The bankruptcy court charges a $338 filing fee for Chapter 7. If your household income is below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, you may qualify for a fee waiver (see the Georgia Fee Waiver Eligibility table below). The Northern District of Georgia provides a detailed overview of how fee waivers work. 

If you can’t pay the full filing fee and you can’t wait to file due to ongoing wage garnishment, you can apply to pay the fee in installments when you file your case. If you’re facing wage garnishment or other serious collection measures, filing a case sooner can provide important breathing room because of the automatic stay. This goes into place as soon as you file and stops creditors’ collections.

Print Your Bankruptcy Forms

If you would prefer to submit your paperwork electronically, all three districts are currently allowing it due to COVID-19. Check the table in the next section for more detail.

If you choose to submit a paper copy of your petition, take your time to make sure you have every form you need. Once you’ve filled everything out, print each form on regular letter-size paper, one side only, in black ink. Sign where needed. Then make a copy for your own records. If you use the Upsolve tool to file, you’ll receive your forms in a downloadable packet with dividers where you need to sign.

File Your Forms With the Georgia Bankruptcy Court

Once you have everything ready, it’s time to give the documents to the court and officially file your bankruptcy case. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia bankruptcy courts have made some changes on how to submit the forms to the court. Make sure you check out the information for your district, so you have a game plan for filing your case.  

If you’re interested in submitting your petition online rather than printing a paper petition, here are your options depending on where you live:

• Northern District: Debtors without attorneys are currently allowed to file by mail, drop off their petition in person, email their petition, or submit via online form. Complete details can be found here.

• Middle District: Debtors are encouraged to submit via email or fax.

• Southern District: Mail, dropbox, and email are currently offered. The dropbox option may be used to have someone else drop off your petition for you.

Once you’ve submitted your papers, take a deep breath and a moment to celebrate. As soon as your case is filed, the automatic stay protects you from your creditors.

Mail Documents to Your Trustee

You’ll find out who your bankruptcy trustee is when you receive Form 309A from the court after you file. The notice is a standard form. The name and contact information for your bankruptcy trustee is listed on the first page of the form. 

The Bankruptcy Code requires you to give your trustee a copy of your two most recent tax returns and a bank statement that includes the date of your filing. You need to do this no later than seven days before your 341 meeting. (More on this later.) Your trustee may also ask for paycheck stubs and other documents. You’ve likely already pulled anything they’ll ask for together for your filing. Review everything you receive from the court and the trustee carefully, and as soon as you can. Your 341 meeting will go much smoother if the trustee gets the documents on time. 

Take a Debtor Education Course

You have to complete a second bankruptcy course before you can get your Georgia bankruptcy discharge. This financial management course is similar to the credit counseling course you completed before you filed. You’ll receive quite a few advertisements from companies that offer the second course shortly after signing up for the first one. It’s important to take the course from a provider that’s approved to offer it in Georgia and to take it within 60 days after your 341 meeting. 

Once you’re done with the class, you’ll receive a certificate of completion. You or the course provider need to file it with the bankruptcy court within 60 days of your 341 meeting.

Attend Your 341 Meeting

The 341 meeting, also known as the meeting of creditors, is a meeting with the trustee that takes place about 30–40 days after you file your Georgia bankruptcy. You can find the exact date and time on Form 309A. One purpose of the meeting is for the trustee to verify your identity, so make sure you’re prepared and bring a valid picture ID and proof of your Social Security number. This is usually the one time all debtors are required to come to court in person, but due to COVID-19 all 341 meetings are currently being held via video conference or phone.

In most cases, the 341 meeting takes only a few minutes and most folks walk out of the meeting relieved that it's over but also surprised about how straightforward everything was. Your creditors have the right to attend the 341 meeting to ask questions about your petition, but this rarely happens. It’s totally normal to feel nervous and think about what could go wrong, but you can also take a minute to think about how good you’ll feel when it’s over.

Dealing With Your Car

If you file Chapter 7 and you have a car, you’ll have the option to keep it or get rid of it to discharge your car debt. Your choice depends on your preferences and situation. If you own your car outright, then you can keep your car as long as its current resale value is less than the $5,000 exemption (more on Georgia bankruptcy exemptions below). 

If you can afford your monthly payment and you're current on your car loan, you can choose to keep your car. Your lender may ask you to enter a reaffirmation agreement. The Northern District of Georgia has a comprehensive reaffirmation guide that can help.

If you have a car loan and you don’t want to keep your car after filing bankruptcy, you can surrender the car. If you do, the outstanding debt will be discharged in the bankruptcy. If you’re thinking of buying a new car after bankruptcy, try to wait a bit to give your credit time to bounce back so you can get a better deal on financing.  

You have similar choices if you’re leasing your car. If you’re current on payments and want to continue the lease you can “assume” the lease. Otherwise you need to return the car. Note that since you don’t own the car, you’ll list your car lease in a different place on your bankruptcy forms.