How To File Bankruptcy for Free in Kansas

Collect Your Kansas Bankruptcy Documents

Filing bankruptcy in Kansas (anywhere, really) requires quite a bit of legwork. But you can prepare your bankruptcy petition — the packet of paperwork you submit to the court — on your own timeline. Collecting and organizing your bankruptcy documents is the first step in the process. 

These documents include:

• A copy of your tax returns from the last two years, and

• Paycheck stubs you’ve received in the last 60 days.

It’s also a good idea to compile information on what you owe creditors. These documents include:

• Bills or statements that have come from your creditors,

• A recent credit report,

• Any communication you receive from collection agencies, and

• Additional bank statements from up to the past year.

You can get a free credit report once a year from each of the three main credit bureaus. Your credit report shows every open credit account you have, the creditor’s name and contact information, and your account balances. All this will be helpful information as your fill out your Chapter 7 paperwork. If you file using Upsolve’s free filing tool, it will pull your credit report for you.

Take a Credit Counseling Course

To file bankruptcy, you must enroll in a credit counseling course. These courses talk about the pros and cons of filing bankruptcy and cover other options to manage your debt. The class takes about 1-2 hours to complete. You can take it online or over the phone. As long as the company you use to complete this course is authorized to offer it to folks filing bankruptcy in Kansas, it doesn’t matter which provider or method you choose. 

There is a small cost for the course, but you may qualify for a fee waiver if you can’t afford it. Once you’ve completed the course, you’ll receive a certificate of completion, which you need to file along with your other bankruptcy paperwork. You must take the course within 180 days of filing for bankruptcy.

Complete the Bankruptcy Forms

To file bankruptcy, you have to fill out several forms. Most of these are federal forms, so they’ll be the same, regardless of what state you file in. You can download the forms for free as fillable PDFs from USCOURTS.gov. This part of the bankruptcy process tends to be the most tedious and time-consuming, but you can do it with some patience and perhaps a little help. 

If you’re eligible to use Upsolve’s filing tool to help prepare your Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Kansas, you’ll answer questions online, and the tool will generate the forms for you based on the information you provide. If you hire a lawyer to help you, they’ll ask you questions and then prepare your forms for you. 

Regardless of how you complete the forms, you’re the one who has to sign them, so it's important to pay close attention to all of the questions and requests contained in the forms. It’s in your best interest to take your time, be thorough, and make sure you truthfully fill out all the information.

Get Your Filing Fee

The fee to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Kansas is $338. You should try to have the full amount ready when you go to file your case. You can pay with a money order, cashier’s check, or in cash (in the exact amount) if you file in person at the Kansas Bankruptcy Court. You can purchase a money order from any post office. 

If you can’t afford the filing fee and you earn less than 150% of the poverty guidelines, you can apply for a fee waiver. Check the Kansas Fee Waiver Eligibility table below to see if you qualify based on your current income. If you don’t qualify for a fee waiver, you can apply to pay the filing fee in installments, but it’s best not to do so unless you need to file your case quickly.

For example, if you’re facing wage garnishment, you may want to file your case and apply to pay in installments so you can get the protection of the automatic stay right away. As soon as you file, the automatic stay takes effect. This stops wage garnishment and most other collection measures your creditors are pursuing. If you don’t need to file quickly, you should wait until you have the full filing fee, so you don’t risk missing a payment and having your case dismissed.

Print Your Bankruptcy Forms

If you file for bankruptcy without a lawyer ("pro se") you can’t use the court's electronic filing system to submit your documents to the court. Instead, you need to print all your forms and bring them or mail them to the court. The forms should be printed on regular, white 8.5" x 11" paper using black ink. Only print on one side of the page. To ensure that you don’t miss anything, print out each document individually and check them off on a checklist as you go. Finally, make sure you’ve signed in every required signature spot.

If you file using the filing tool from Upsolve, you’ll receive your whole packet as one download that includes dividers noting the signature pages.

File Your Forms With the Kansas Bankruptcy Court

Without a lawyer, you can’t file your bankruptcy online. You can submit your bankruptcy petition by mail, email, or in person. Bringing the papers to the court clerk yourself in person has several advantages. Filing in person may allow you to fix errors on the spot and ensures your case is filed as quickly and smoothly as possible. The Kansas Bankruptcy Court has locations in Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita. 

The filing fee is $338. You can apply to pay in installments. You can make payments by cash, a money order, or cashier’s check. If you’re filing by mail, you can’t pay in cash. The court doesn’t accept personal checks or credit cards.

You can mail or email your forms to any of the following addresses:

Robert J. Dole Courthouse

500 State Avenue, Rm. 161

Kansas City, KS 66101

KSBKC_SelfRep@ksb.uscourts.gov

or

Frank Carlson Federal Building

444 SE Quincy, Rm. 240

Topeka, KS 66683

KSBTopeka_SelfRep@ksb.uscourts.gov 

or

Wichita U.S. Courthouse

401 N. Market, Rm. 167

Wichita, KS 67202

KSBWichita_SelfRep@ksb.uscourts.gov

Mail Documents to Your Trustee

After you file your bankruptcy case, the court will assign a trustee to handle your bankruptcy. The trustee is an independent third party who reviews and verifies your information. They also run the 341 meeting (more on this later). Once you file for bankruptcy, you’ll receive your trustee’s contact information and the meeting date. Each trustee has a different process, but many send out a letter that explains what they need from you. At a minimum, you’ll need to send your bankruptcy trustee:

• Copies of your two most recent federal income tax returns, and

• A bank statement that includes your filing date.

You must send these at least seven days before your 341 meeting. The trustee may ask for other documents as well, such as pay stubs, copies of vehicle titles, and mortgage documents.

Take the Required Debtor Education Course

To receive your discharge, you must take a debtor education course. If you don’t complete the course within 60 days of the 341 meeting, then the court can dismiss your case before you get the debt relief you’re seeking. The debtor education course covers financial management strategies like budgeting, so you can make the most of your fresh start.

Like with the credit counseling course, you must take the debtor education course from a state-approved provider. These are the same companies that provide the credit counseling courses. Once you complete the course, you’ll receive a certificate that you need to submit to the court. Some course providers will send the form to the bankruptcy court for you.

Attend Your 341 Meeting

One of the final steps in the bankruptcy process is attending the 341 meeting. This is also called a creditors' meeting or meeting of creditors because your creditors can attend and ask you questions. However, that rarely happens. More commonly, it’s just you and the trustee. The trustee will verify that your name and Social Security number match the information on your bankruptcy documents. They’ll also ask you questions about your case under oath. Don’t worry, there are no trick questions. 

If you’re nervous about your meeting, you can prepare by reviewing your forms. Remember, very little can go wrong. Take a deep breath and answer truthfully it will be over before you know it. Most 341 meetings take less than 10 minutes, and once it’s over, you’re one step closer to having your debts erased. 

Deal With Your Car

You may be worried that filing bankruptcy means you’ll lose important property like your car. The good news is that you get to choose how to deal with your car when you file Chapter 7. To make the best decision, you’ll want to look at how much you still owe (if anything) and whether your car loan or lease is working for you.

Here are some of your options:

• If you own your car outright you can keep it if it’s worth $20,000 or less.

• If you have a loan on the car, you’re current on your payments, and you want to and can continue to make them, you can enter a reaffirmation agreement with the bank or your lender. In this agreement, you reaffirm that you can continue with the loan as it has been and agree that the debt will not be eliminated.

• Alternatively, if you have a loan on the car and you can’t or don’t want to continue paying it, you can surrender the car. If you do this, under bankruptcy laws you won’t have to pay the balance of the loan.

• If you’re leasing a car and you’re up to date with your payments, you can keep the lease going on its original terms or terminate the lease and return the car.

If you decide to give up your car when you file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy, remember that you can always get another car later. You may even get a better deal on financing if you wait a little while for your credit score to recover.