How to file bankruptcy in Philadelphia & South Jersey: a step-by-step guide

Filing bankruptcy is more procedural than dramatic. The U.S. Bankruptcy Code lays out a clear sequence of steps: a credit counseling course, a petition and schedules, a meeting of creditors, a debtor education course, and a discharge order. For a Philadelphia or South Jersey filer, the courts that handle the work are the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (E.D. Pa.) and the District of New Jersey, Camden vicinage. Here is what each step is, what it requires, and how long the whole thing takes.

Most of the work happens before you file the petition. The filing itself takes minutes. The real preparation is gathering documents, running the means test math, and confirming what the federal exemptions will protect.

Where Philadelphia & South Jersey cases file

Philadelphia consumer cases file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Eastern District covers Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, plus Berks, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Northampton. The court sits in Philadelphia and Reading.

South Jersey cases file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The Camden vicinage handles cases from Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties, plus ten Burlington County townships: Cinnaminson, Delran, Edgewater Park, Evesham (Marlton), Maple Shade, Moorestown, Mount Laurel, Palmyra, Riverside, and Riverton. The rest of Burlington County and all of Ocean County go to Trenton. South Jersey filers commonly work with firms anchored in Cherry Hill, NJ, with cases filed electronically with the Camden court.

Step 1: free consultation and chapter choice

The first step is a free consultation with a bankruptcy lawyer to decide whether to file at all and, if so, which chapter to file. Most consumer filers end up in Chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation, discharge in about three to four months) or Chapter 13 bankruptcy (three- to five-year payment plan). The choice turns on the § 707(b) means test, the debt mix, and whether you need to keep a home or vehicle the federal exemptions cannot fully protect.

The lawyer also walks through alternatives. Negotiating with creditors, settling a single problem debt, or filing only after a foreclosure date is set are all possibilities depending on the situation. The right answer is sometimes “not yet.” And if you’re worried you have to be approved before you can file at all, you don’t. Our do I qualify for bankruptcy checker explains why in five quick questions.

Step 2: complete the required credit counseling course

Under 11 U.S.C. § 109(h), every individual debtor has to complete a credit counseling course from a U.S. Trustee-approved provider within 180 days before filing. The course runs about one hour and costs a small fee. Most providers run it online or by phone. Your lawyer can recommend approved providers active in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The course gives you a certificate, which is usually filed with your petition. You need to take the course before you file. Without it, you are not eligible for bankruptcy, except in rare emergencies. If you have taken the course but the certificate hasn’t arrived yet, it can be filed within 14 days.

Step 3: gather documents and complete the schedules

The bulk of the pre-filing work is documentation. Under 11 U.S.C. § 521, the debtor has to file a petition, schedules of assets and liabilities, a statement of financial affairs, a schedule of current income and expenditures, and a means test calculation. The schedules describe everything the filer owns, owes, earns, and spends.

The documents your lawyer will ask for:

• Pay stubs for the last 60 days
• Federal and state tax returns for the last two years
• Bank statements for the last few months
• A list of every debt with the most recent statements (credit cards, medical bills, loans, judgments)
• Mortgage and car loan balances and monthly payment amounts
• A picture of monthly household income and expenses
• Recent retirement account statements (401(k), IRA, pension)
• Property tax assessments or recent home appraisals if you own real estate

This is also when your lawyer runs the means test math against the U.S. Trustee’s current Pennsylvania or New Jersey median income figures and confirms which federal exemptions will protect your specific assets. If IRS back taxes are part of the picture, our free IRS tax discharge calculator shows whether those taxes could be wiped out or would have to be paid.

Step 4: file the petition with the court

Once the schedules are complete and the credit counseling certificate is in hand, the lawyer files the petition electronically with the court. The court issues a case number the moment your lawyer files the petition, and the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 takes effect immediately. Creditors cannot collect, garnish, sue, or contact the debtor about the listed debts from that point forward.

The court collects the filing fee at this stage. The Chapter 7 filing fee is $338 and the Chapter 13 filing fee is $313, set by the Judicial Conference under 28 U.S.C. § 1930. The court mails formal notice of the case to every creditor on the schedules within a few days.

Step 5: the § 341 meeting of creditors

About three to six weeks after filing (a little longer in some Chapter 13 cases), the Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 trustee holds a meeting of creditors under 11 U.S.C. § 341. The debtor attends under oath and answers questions about the schedules. Despite the name, creditors rarely show up at consumer § 341 meetings. The trustee runs the questioning, which usually takes ten or fifteen minutes per case.

Both the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey hold consumer § 341 meetings by Zoom video. Our guide to what happens at a 341 meeting on Zoom covers what the trustee asks and what to have ready. The debtor joins from home on a device with a camera, answers the trustee’s questions, and the meeting closes. There is no need to come to a courthouse.

Step 6: complete the debtor education course

After the § 341 meeting, the debtor has to complete a second required course: the debtor education course, also called the financial management course. The course is required for a Chapter 7 discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(11) and for a Chapter 13 discharge under § 1328(g). It runs about two hours, costs a small fee, and, like the first course, runs online or by phone through a U.S. Trustee-approved provider.

Many providers send the completion notice to the court for you. If yours does not, the certificate has to be filed in your case. Without it, the court will not enter the discharge, and the case can be closed without one.

Step 7: the discharge order

The discharge is the order that ends personal liability on qualifying debts. In a Chapter 7 case, the discharge typically enters about 60 to 90 days after the first date set for the § 341 meeting. That puts the total timeline at about three to four months from petition to discharge. In a Chapter 13 case, the discharge enters after the debtor completes the three- to five-year plan and the trustee files a final report.

The discharge order is a federal court order. It permanently bars the discharged creditors from trying to collect the discharged debts from you personally. A creditor that keeps collecting anyway can be held in contempt of court. The discharge does not remove a valid lien, so a lender with a mortgage or car lien can still look to that property if it is not paid.

How long does the whole process take?

A typical Chapter 7 consumer case runs about three to four months from petition to discharge:

• Day 0: petition filed; automatic stay takes effect
• Day 21 to 40: § 341 meeting of creditors
• About day 80 to 100: the deadline passes for creditors to object to your discharge or ask the court to keep a debt alive (60 days after the first scheduled § 341 meeting)
• About day 90 to 130: the discharge order enters

A Chapter 13 case follows the same early sequence (petition, § 341 meeting, debtor education course) but stays open through the three- to five-year plan term. The discharge enters when the plan ends and the trustee certifies completion.

A note on Philadelphia & South Jersey practice

The federal Bankruptcy Code is the same nationwide. What varies is how each district’s trustees and judges handle the work day to day. The Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey both have panels of Chapter 7 trustees, standing Chapter 13 trustees, and bankruptcy judges who hear cases regularly. Local familiarity with a specific trustee’s audit style, exemption objection patterns, and confirmation hearing schedule matters more in close-call cases than in routine ones. A lawyer who regularly files cases in your district handles your case more efficiently because they know what the trustees and judges will ask. Mike files regularly in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey.

Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer who serves Philadelphia & South Jersey

The Law Office of Mike Assad helps individuals across Philadelphia and South Jersey file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases from start to discharge. Mike is admitted in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey and handles cases through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey.

What working with the firm looks like:

• A free, confidential consultation with no obligation, and an answer on whether bankruptcy is the right tool and which chapter fits.
• Affordable pricing, with payment plans available. A $999 Chapter 7 program for qualifying filers.
• The same lawyer on your case from the first call through the discharge order, and a live person on the phone when you call.
• Fully virtual representation by phone and Zoom, so you never have to come to an office.

Book your free consultation online. The firm has offices in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If it would help, you can share your debt picture before the call so the consultation starts from the facts.

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