How To File Bankruptcy for Free in South Carolina

Collect Your South Carolina Bankruptcy Documents

Your bankruptcy documents are the documents the court needs from you to make sure you’ve disclosed all of the relevant information. Bankruptcy laws require you to provide certain documents to the court when you file your petition, and to your trustee after your case is filed, whether or not you have an attorney representing you. 

These required documents are:

• The two most recent tax returns you have,

• Paycheck stubs from the previous 60 days, and

• A bank statement that includes your filing date.

There are other documents that aren’t required but are helpful to have as you fill out your South Carolina bankruptcy forms. To help you list your debts and creditor information, pull together any creditor statement, bills, letters, or documents received from collection agencies. It can also be helpful to pull a copy of your credit report to cross-check this information. You’re entitled to one free report every 12 months from each of the three consumer credit reporting agencies. Finally, gather any bank statements you have from the last 6-12 months to help you report your expenses.

Take a Credit Counseling Course

To be eligible for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in South Carolina you have to complete a credit counseling course in the six months before you file your case with the court. This class takes about 1-2 hours to complete and covers all of your options for debt relief. 

Even though most people filing bankruptcy in South Carolina take the class online or over the phone, there are two providers (CCCS of Savannah Area and Family Services, Inc.) that usually offer this class in person. However, you’ll need to check with these providers to ensure this option is still available during COVID-19. The course isn’t free, but you may be able to have the fee waived or take the course online for as low as $15. 

To be valid, you need to complete the course in the 180 days before you file your case, and you must take it from an approved credit counseling provider. You’ll receive a certificate of completion for the course, which you need to submit to the court along with the rest of your paperwork.

Complete the Bankruptcy Forms

Most bankruptcy forms are the same for everybody because they’re federal. Their purpose is to provide the court, your trustee, and your creditors with certain financial information. You can download all these bankruptcy forms for free as fillable PDF forms from USCOURTS.gov.

If you hire a lawyer, their office will complete the forms based on the information and documents you provide to their office. If you’re eligible to use the Upsolve filing tool, we’ll provide a questionnaire for you to complete. Then we’ll generate the bankruptcy forms for you using your responses. Whichever route you choose to complete the required forms, make sure that you don’t leave anything out. After all, you’ll have to sign the documents under penalty of perjury before they can be submitted to the court.

Get Your Filing Fee

There is a $338 filing fee for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If you make less than 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, you’re eligible to apply for a fee waiver. See the South Carolina Fee Waiver Eligibility table further down this page.  

If you don’t qualify to have your bankruptcy filing fee waived and you need to file your case quickly but can’t pay the $338, you can apply to pay it in installments. Some filers choose to do this because they’re facing wage garnishment and they want the protection of the automatic stay. The automatic stay stops creditors from taking action against you and it goes into effect as soon as you file. 

If you apply to pay your fee in installments, make sure to pay attention to the due dates the court sets. If you miss a payment, the court can dismiss your bankruptcy case before you get your discharge.

Print Your Bankruptcy Forms

This is the last step before you’re officially ready to file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Make sure you give yourself enough time for this. If you completed the forms on your own and now have them saved as separate files on your computer, creating or using a checklist may be very helpful when it comes time to print.

You’ll need to print your forms on regular, white letter-size paper (8.5” x 11”) in black ink. Don’t print double-sided. Do be sure to sign in all necessary spots. Finally, double-check that you have printed everything that’s required and filled out all forms completely. Many filers print a complete second copy of everything they plan to submit to the court when filing bankruptcy in South Carolina. This way, they have a copy for their records.

If you’re using Upsolve’s filling tool, you’ll receive your forms packet as a single download. Everywhere you need to sign will be flagged.

File Your Forms With the South Carolina Bankruptcy Court

Only bankruptcy attorneys in South Carolina can file petitions electronically. Everyone else has to submit a paper version of all of their bankruptcy forms to the court. While you can file your case by mailing everything to the clerk's office, many people choose to take the documents in person. That helps avoid any mailing delays. It also gives you the opportunity to correct any errors or add anything that’s missing right then and there.

Even though the court has locations in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville, only the Columbia office has a fully staffed bankruptcy clerk's office. If you plan on heading to Charleston or Greenville to file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy in South Carolina, you should give the clerk's office a call first to confirm they can assist you with this. When you get to the courthouse, remember that you’ll be entering a federal building, which means you will have to pass through building security on your way in.

If you choose to mail your forms in, you can send them to:

U.S. Bankruptcy Court

1100 Laurel Street

Columbia, SC 29201

You also need to be aware of any COVID-19 specific information there may be regarding filing.

Mail Documents to Your Trustee

As soon as you file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court will assign a trustee to administer your case and set the date for your creditors' meeting. The trustee verifies the information you provided in your bankruptcy forms. You’re required to give your trustee the following documents so they receive them at least seven days before your meeting of creditors. 

• Your federal income tax return for the last two years, and

• A bank statement that includes the date you filed for bankruptcy

Depending on which trustee is assigned to your case, you may also be required to submit other documentation to their office in preparation for the creditors' meeting. If so, your trustee will likely send you a letter shortly after filing with a list of their requirements. It's important to keep an eye out for such a letter and review and respond to it in a timely manner. 

Take a Debtor Education Course

You took credit counseling before filing Chapter 7 in South Carolina. Now you have to take a financial management course before you can get your bankruptcy discharge. Without the course, you aren’t eligible for a discharge, which wipes out your credit card debt, medical bills, and other qualifying debt.

Be sure to take the course from an approved provider and to file the certificate of completion no later than 60 days after your creditors’ meeting. The course provider may file your completion certificate with the court for you. If not, you’ll have to file the certification yourself. Without it, the court won’t know that you’re ready to have the discharge entered and you risk having your case dismissed.

Attend Your 341 Meeting

The creditors' meeting is sometimes referred to as the 341 meeting because that’s the section of the Bankruptcy Code that mandates it. It will take place approximately 20-40 days after you file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy with the court. The official notice you receive from the court shortly after filing bankruptcy in South Carolina contains all the necessary details about your 341 meeting.

Depending on where you live, the meeting will take place at the courthouse in either Charleston, Columbia, or Spartanburg. It’s important to note that all 341 meetings are currently being held remotely as a COVID-19 measure. But this hasn’t been adopted as a standard practice going forward, so be sure to check your notice for meeting information.

Typically, this is nothing more than a meeting with your bankruptcy trustee, who has to first verify your identity by reviewing a picture ID and your Social Security card or other acceptable proof of your Social Security number. Once that’s done the trustee will put you under oath and ask you a set of standard questions. Take just a few minutes to review the forms you filed with the South Carolina Bankruptcy Court to prepare for the meeting. This way, your memory is fresh when the trustee starts asking questions. Your discharge order will be entered somewhere between 60 to 90 days after your meeting.

Dealing with Your Car

It’s normal to feel concerned about what a Chapter 7 bankruptcy means for your vehicle. The good news is that filing bankruptcy in South Carolina puts you in the driver's seat, meaning you can choose what to do with the car. 

• If you own your car outright, you can keep it as long as its value doesn’t exceed the exemption limit. South Carolina’s state exemption limit for cars is $5,900. (More on exemptions later.)

• If you have a car loan with a manageable monthly payment and the remaining car loan balance isn’t a lot more than the current value of your vehicle, you can choose to keep everything the way it was before you filed. This is done in a reaffirmation agreement. Only sign this if your loan is current and you’re sure that you can make the monthly payments to your lender without issue. 

• If you have a car loan and you’re behind on the payments or you want to get out of the loan, you can give the car back and have the loan debt erased with your bankruptcy discharge. You can look at buying another car once you are out of bankruptcy.

• Finally, if you’re leasing your vehicle, you can keep the lease and the car if you’re current on your payments and you want to continue with the lease. If you want out of the lease, you can return the car.