How To File Bankruptcy for Free in Missouri

Collect Your Missouri Bankruptcy Documents

Filing bankruptcy is like telling a story about your financial situation. To give the court a complete picture of why your debts should be discharged, you need to gather financial statements to tell your story.

At a minimum, you’ll need:

• The last two years of your tax returns, which you can request online from the IRS if you can’t find them.

• At least 60 days of paycheck stubs. If you can’t don’t have these, ask your employer’s payroll department for a copy.

• The bank statement that covers the filing date. You can go online to download this from your account after filing your case (you won’t have a “filing date” until then).

It’s also a good idea to collect some additional documents, such as statements and letters from creditors, debt collectors, and collection agencies. You should also pull up 6-12 months of older bank statements and your credit report. You’re entitled to a free report every 12 months from each of the three consumer credit reporting agencies. Your credit reports list all your debts and creditors. Upsolve pulls credit reports for all its users.

Gathering these documents ahead of time will make it easier to fill out the paperwork and tell a complete story without accidentally leaving anything out.

Take Credit Counseling

The documents you just collected will be helpful when you take the required pre-bankruptcy credit counseling course. This class takes you through your financial situation and your monthly budget. It will take one to two hours, and you can take it over the phone or online.

Make sure you take the course from a provider that’s approved by Missouri. Once you finish, you’ll receive a completion certificate that you’ll need to include with your bankruptcy petition. You need to take the course sometime in the six months before you file Chapter 7. The course costs money, but you can ask for a fee waiver if you can’t afford it.

Complete the Bankruptcy Forms

Most of the bankruptcy forms are set by federal law and are the same nationwide. They’re available for free online from USCOURTS.gov. The court also provides a guide to filling out the forms. Go slowly through the paperwork and take the time to get it right.

Bankruptcy forms are the reason that some people hire lawyers to represent them in Chapter 7 cases. Filing out the forms can be a lot of work. When you hire a lawyer, you’ll still have to pull your financial information together and take the credit counseling class. But your lawyer will prepare your Chapter 7 forms using information from a questionnaire you fill out about your financial situation.

If you file using Upsolve's free filing tool, you’ll fill out an online form, and our software will generate your bankruptcy paperwork for you.

Get Your Filing Fee

Chapter 7 bankruptcy costs $338. You can ask the court if you can make the payment in up to four installments over 120 days, but it’s a good idea to wait to file until you can pay the fee in full. That’s because if you miss an installment payment, the court can dismiss your case without a refund. 

That said, people who are facing serious debt collection actions, like wage garnishment or foreclosure, often choose to start the bankruptcy sooner so they can take advantage of the automatic stay. This will make all debt collectors stop their collection activity. They can’t call you or send you notices in the mail. They also have to stop garnishing your wages and put lawsuits, like foreclosures, on hold until your bankruptcy case is done.

If you make less than 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, you can ask the court for a fee waiver. To see if you’re eligible, look at the Missouri Fee Waiver Eligibility table below.

Print Your Bankruptcy Forms

It’s a good idea to print everything right before you file your bankruptcy because your bankruptcy paperwork includes a lot of time-sensitive information. Make sure you print your documents on regular, white letter-size paper (8.5x11 inches). The bankruptcy paperwork should be single-sided and printed in black ink. Don’t staple any of the pages together.

Since there are several different forms, it's helpful to go through a checklist to make sure you have everything you need. Read everything carefully and make sure you sign in all the correct spots.

If you file with Upsolve, you get all your documents as a single downloadable PDF that includes dividers flagging each signature page. 

You should keep a second copy of your bankruptcy documents for your records.

File Your Forms With the Missouri Bankruptcy Court

You have three options to file your bankruptcy case in Missouri:

1. You can go in person to the courthouse in either St. Louis if you live in the Eastern District, or in Kansas City if you live in the Western District. 

2. You can mail your paperwork in if you don’t want to go to the courthouse in person. You'll send it to either the Eastern or Western District’s courthouse, depending on where you live.

3. You can file your bankruptcy petition online. Both districts in Missouri allow pro se filers to file online through their websites. 

If you choose to file in person at the courthouse, look up directions and where to park before you go. Also, check the latest COVID-19 security measures.  Some people choose to file their paperwork directly with the court because the clerk can let you know if you’re missing anything while you’re there.

Mail Documents to Your Trustee

A bankruptcy trustee is the an official who checks all the information you listed in your bankruptcy forms. After you file your paperwork, the bankruptcy court will send you a notice about who your trustee is.

Your trustee may send you letters asking for specific documents, like pay stubs. You’ll need to give the trustee all the documents they ask for to make sure your case goes smoothly. Under the Bankruptcy Code, you’ll need to send the trustee two things at least seven days before your 341 meeting:

1. Your two most recent federal income tax returns, and 

2. A bank statement covering the date you filed bankruptcy.

Take a Debtor Education Course

After you file your bankruptcy paperwork, you’ll need to take a debtor education course. This personal financial management course will show you some tools you can use to manage your finances and take full advantage of your financial fresh start. 

It's important to take this course from a state-approved provider. You can take it online or over the phone. When you’re finished, make sure to file the completion certificate with the court to make sure you get your discharge. 

If you don’t take the course and give the certificate to the court within 60 days of your creditors’ meeting, the court can dismiss your Chapter 7 case without a refund. You can take the course before the meeting as well. Many filers choose to do that, so they can get it out of the way.

Attend Your 341 Meeting

About 30 days after filing your Chapter 7 paperwork, you’ll have to attend your meeting of creditors. This is also known as a creditors’ meeting or 341 meeting. At the meeting, you’ll need to show your ID and answer questions about your financial situation and bankruptcy forms. For some people, this can be the most stressful part of a Chapter 7 case. But if you take time before the meeting to review your papers and remember to breathe, you’ll be fine. 

A creditor is someone you owe money to. Your creditors might send a representative to the meeting, but this rarely happens. More often than not, the 341 meeting is a short but formal, meeting with your trustee to discuss your case. At the moment, all of these meetings across the country are being held over the phone or online. This is a COVID-19 safety measure and may change. Read every document you receive from the court or your trustee carefully so you know what to do for your meeting.

After the meeting is over, as long as you’ve submitted your completion certificate from the personal finance course, you can expect a discharge from the court within 60-90 days.

Dealing with Your Car

It’s important to decide what you want to do with your car when you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. There are many options, depending on your financial relationship with your motor vehicle. 

• If you own the car and it’s worth less than $3,000, you can keep it under a Missouri bankruptcy exemption.

• If you’re still making payments on a car loan and you can’t afford your car payment, you can surrender the car and walk away from the loan. The loan balance will be discharged as part of your bankruptcy. 

• If you’re still making payments on the loan, but you owe more than your car is worth, you can redeem the car by paying the lender the car’s market value, not the value of the loan. The remaining amount will be discharged.

• If you’re still making car payments and you like the car and can afford your payments, you can reaffirm the car loan. When you reaffirm the loan, you’ll continue making payments as normal. Similarly, if you’re leasing the car and like the lease agreement, you should be able to continue paying your lease each month.

After your bankruptcy is discharged, it might actually be easier to buy a new car because your credit score will start to increase.