There is a step in every consumer bankruptcy that almost nobody talks about. Before you can file, federal law says you must finish a credit counseling course.
Skip it and your case can be thrown out on a technicality, protection gone before it started. Here is how the rule works and how to meet it without wasting money or time.
What the course is
The course is a budget and credit counseling session with a nonprofit agency. It looks at your income, your debts, and whether some other path could work for you.
You must finish it within the 180 days before your case is filed. When you do, the agency issues a certificate. That certificate gets filed with your petition.
The session does not decide anything for you. You can sit through it, hear the other paths, and still file. Nearly everyone does. The point is that you looked at the options first.
One rule for all six counties
The rule works the same way across Jefferson, Oldham, Bullitt, Spencer, Nelson, and Meade counties, because every case from those counties files in the same Louisville division. Nick Thompson practices as a Louisville bankruptcy and foreclosure attorney at Bankruptcy-Divorce.com [LINK 1] and handles the counseling step as part of preparing each case, so the certificate is current and valid on filing day.
Clients take the course from home, usually online. The office checks that the provider is on the approved list before anyone pays a fee.
Only approved agencies count
This is where people get burned. The certificate is only valid if it comes from an agency approved by the U.S. Trustee Program at the Department of Justice.
Plenty of companies advertise credit counseling. Not all of them count for bankruptcy, and a session with the wrong one gives you a worthless piece of paper. The Justice Department publishes the official list of approved agencies [LINK 2]. You can search it by state. Check the list before paying anyone.
Approved agencies must state their fees up front. Most sessions cost little. Many run online or by phone. Married couples filing together can attend one session and each get their own certificate.
The second course
There is a second rule on the other end of the case. After filing, you must finish a debtor education course before the court will grant your discharge.
It is a different course, from a separate approved list, and it cannot be taken in the same session as the first one. Miss it and a finished case can close without a discharge. That defeats the whole point. A good office puts both courses on the calendar so neither one slips.
Where filers get this wrong
Three mistakes come up again and again.
Taking the course too early. The certificate runs out after 180 days. Take it in January and file in August, and you take it again.
Taking it from the wrong provider. A slick website is not approval. Only the official list matters.
Filing first and counseling after. The order is fixed. Counseling comes before the petition, with only narrow emergency carve outs.
None of these mistakes say anything about whether you deserve relief. They are paperwork traps, and a simple checklist avoids all of them.
Start with the conversation, not the course
Nick has practiced law since 1988 and prepares every petition himself.
Do not sign up for counseling on your own before talking to a lawyer. The timing should match your filing date. A first meeting may change that date for reasons that save you money.
The first consultation is free. Call 502-625-0905 and get the sequence right from the start.
