What to Bring for Your First Meeting

All of the items below will eventually be required to prepare your bankruptcy petition, but if you do not have everything for your first meeting, that is O.K. Bring what you have.

1) Your last two years tax returns. (Federal and state.)
2) A copy of your credit report, which you can get free every 12 months at www.annualcreditreport.com .
3) Your last 6 months of paycheck stubs, or an earnings statement from your employer of paychecks with deductions specified, issued to you for the last 6 months.
4) Latest bank statement for each bank account.
5) A copy of your drivers license. A copy of your social security card or your most recent W2 tax form.
6) A copy of any lawsuits filed against you or any other legal paperwork you may have received.
7) A copy of any bills from creditors NOT showing up on your credit report, such as payday loans companies.
8) A copy of your vehicle value, available for free by entering your vehicle details at www.kbb.com . (Be sure to choose private party value, not trade in value.)
9) A copy of your home value, if you are a home owner. (Available for free by entering your home address at www.zillow.com .)
10) A simple sheet of paper stating your full legal name, address, email address, and phone numbers.
11) Completed questionnaire, which will be emailed to you upon initial email or phone contact.
12) If you are self employed, please create a simple profit and loss statement for the last 6 months, broken down per month, and bring us a copy.
13) Your latest statement from any retirement account you may have, such as 401K, IRA, ERISA, etc.
14) If you have any type of life insurance or annuity, please bring a copy of the latest statement, and if possible, the policy. If it is a whole life policy, you’ll need to find out present cash value.
15) If you receive any other type of income such as social security, disability, pension, food stamps (Link), etc., please bring a benefit statement showing how much you receive per month.

Note: Please bring COPIES of the above materials, which you can leave with our firm if you choose to retain us. Please do not bring originals. We do not make copies of such materials at our office, as we use all measures to keep our operating costs low, thereby ensuring low client fees. We feel it is far less expensive for you to spend your time to make these copies than to pay us to do it. We are a law firm, not a copy shop.