These are the standard questions that a bankruptcy trustee will ask you at a 341 Meeting of Creditors. This doesn’t mean that these are the only questions you’ll face, but these are the most common. Unless you have some interesting asset like a family vacation home in a trust which your dad set up years ago, you should be fine.

Just remember: driver’s license, social security card, bank statement showing balances for the month we filed, and a current paystub.

Nope.

You can discharge them in a chapter 13 (usually), but it may not be worth the extra attorney’s fees and 3 years of waiting for that to happen.

In a chapter 7, it will not discharge a debt ” to the extent such debt is for a fine, penalty, or forfeiture payable to and for the benefit of a governmental unit ….” 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(7).

This means that your traffic fines/citations will survive a chapter 7 case. That being said, if you file chapter 7 and discharge all of your other debts, that should hopefully free up enough of your monthly income to pay off the speeding tickets rather quickly.

A good rule of thumb is that priority debts like most taxes, student loans, criminal restitution, and child support/alimony survive your chapter 7 case. Everything else disappears. It goes without saying that if you’re unsure if a debt will be discharged, that you should ask a bankruptcy attorney.

As for the speeding tickets, the best way to prevent them is to (in the words of my law enforcement friends) “stop breaking the law, jackass.” Unfortunately, I seem to have a lead foot.

No, there’s not. Don’t flirt with bankruptcy fraud charges. Spend the money on exempt items and keep your receipts.