Expert: Mark J. Markus- California Bankruptcy Attorney - 11/2/2010

Question
I am currently a DoD Civilian working in Germany, after having retired from the Army in 2008.  My state residency is California.  My question is this: Is it possible for me to file for bankruptcy without having to come to the actual court proceedings?  While I have about $60,000 of total consumer debt, my desire would be to erase all but the automobile, which accounts for roughly 17k of the total.  The rest are personal loans and credit cards.  Additionally, there is at least one company garnishing my paycheck, and others are about to join in shortly.  The collection agencies are also on my heels.  Assuming that I can file from Germany, at what point does all of the harassment end?  I understand that the California law has changed in the past years regarding qualifying for bankruptcy, but how does that affect me, since I do not live there.  If you need more personal details (exact debt, income, expenses, etc), please let me know.  My marital status is divorced, and she has custody of the kids.  One of the debts I want to relieve is one from when I was married that I believe has both of our names on (me as the primary), but I am the one (through our agreement, not the court's) that makes the payments. She is not a US citizen, though she has a SSN, and possibly her Alien Registration that is probably expired by now.  Thank you for any and all information and guidance.

Answer
In order to file bankruptcy in the United States, you must have some assets here in the United States.  Sometimes even a bank account can qualify.   For more details on the requirements, please see my article at http://bklaw.com/bankruptcy-blog/2008/06/file-bankruptcy-if-you-live-outside-the...

As far as physically coming to the USA, technically you are required to do so for the meeting with the Trustee in your case.  However, you may be able to have that requirement waived and do a telephonic appearance or some other such way if you are working for the DoD.  Ultimately, it's up to the Judge in your case, and it's not something one can promise you in advance.

An analysis of your eligibility to file Chapter 7 or whatever is far beyond the scope of this service.  You need to have a comprehensive consult with a bankruptcy attorney for that.

Mark J. Markus, Attorney at Law
http://www.bklaw.com/