The Initial Motion

• The initial motion in any bankruptcy case is filing one, with or without an attorney's assistance. All consumers must complete pre-bankruptcy credit counseling before filing a case. Once a bankruptcy case is filed, an automatic stay goes into effect. This legal order bars creditors from contacting debtors who filed bankruptcy and halts any legal actions pending against the debtor such as lawsuits and wage garnishments.
  
  

The Next Motion

• The next motion in your case will happen at the 341 hearing. You must personally attend this hearing even if you hire an attorney. The 341 hearing is a meeting of creditors where your lenders can legally show up and dispute your bankruptcy case. If they object to your case, you might need to show more proof of your financial problems. In some cases of creditor objection, you need to hire an attorney if you don't already have one because you've been accused of lying to file bankruptcy or get credit. Lying to file bankruptcy or to get credit is a federal crime prosecutable by hefty fines and possible imprisonment. But such objections are rare and most hearings are short-lived and uneventful.
  
  

The Discharge Motion

• In bankruptcy cases, if the discharge motion is good it means your bankruptcy case was accepted and you're no longer legally obligated to pay debts that were approved for bankruptcy case inclusion. This ruling will not have an impact on your commitments to pay child support, alimony, recent tax bills, federal student loans, court fines and debts incurred due to illegal activities. A judge will only rule to discharge your federal student loans if he accepts your claim of serious and permanent disability or that your college went out of business or committed some type of fraud. Once your case is discharged, you'll receive mailed legal papers.
  
  

About Dismissal Motions

• If you make it past the 341 hearing, you may still be subjected to a bankruptcy dismissal motion. Some dismissal motions are due to honest paperwork errors or because of deliberate misconduct during the bankruptcy process. If your bankruptcy case is dismissed, you can re-file the case unless a judge has accused you of bankruptcy fraud.