Bankruptcy Intake: Qualification Under Financial Pressure and Tight Timelines

By Bobby Sawyer · Published 27 October 2026 · Last updated 26 October 2026

By Bobby Sawyer · Published October 27, 2026 · Last updated October 27, 2026

Bankruptcy intake should first find out what is happening right now (a foreclosure sale date, a garnishment, a lawsuit, a repossession), then ask about prior bankruptcy filings, recent transfers or large payments to family, household income and size, and which debts are pressing hardest. Those answers tell the attorney how urgent the case is and which questions the consult must resolve. Keep the call calm and short, do not give advice about which debts to pay, and send a document list right after the call. Track answer rate, speed to first response, the share of calls with an urgent date captured, consult booked rate, and the share of consults where the client arrived with documents.

Why do bankruptcy callers drop off?

Most bankruptcy callers are frightened and embarrassed. Many have put off the call for months. Small things end the conversation:

• Being asked for a long list of numbers before anyone has listened.
• A tone that sounds like judgment about how they got here.
• Talk of fees before they know whether the firm can help.
• A callback that arrives after the sale date or the next garnished paycheck.

Bankruptcy intake differs from personal injury and family law intake on speed and emotion. The facts are mostly on paper, but the caller is often in crisis about housing, wages or a car they need for work. The intake person’s first job is to lower the temperature and find the date that matters.

Which questions surface eligibility and urgency fast?

Use a fixed order. Each question exists because the Bankruptcy Code makes the answer matter.

1. What is happening right now, and is there a date? Foreclosure sale, eviction, wage garnishment, bank levy, lawsuit, repossession. The U.S. Courts chapter 7 overview explains that filing a petition “automatically stays” (stops) most collection actions, which is why the date drives urgency.
2. Have you filed bankruptcy before? When, which chapter, and was it dismissed or discharged? Under 11 U.S.C. 727(a)(8), a chapter 7 discharge is barred if the debtor received one in a case commenced “within 8 years before the date of the filing of the petition.” Under 11 U.S.C. 362(c)(3), if a prior case was pending within the preceding year and dismissed, the automatic stay in the new case can terminate “on the 30th day after the filing of the later case” unless the court extends it.
3. In the last two years, have you sold, given away or transferred property, or put anything in someone else’s name? 11 U.S.C. 548 lets the trustee examine transfers made “on or within 2 years before the date of the filing of the petition” in the situations the statute lists.
4. In the last year, have you paid back a family member or a business partner, or made any large payment to one creditor? 11 U.S.C. 547 reaches certain payments made “on or within 90 days before the date of the filing of the petition,” or “between ninety days and one year before” when the creditor was an insider.
5. What is your household size and roughly what is your monthly household income? U.S. Courts explains that if the debtor’s “current monthly income” is more than the state median, the Code applies a “means test”.
6. Which debts are pressing hardest? Mortgage, car loan, taxes, support, medical, credit cards, a judgment. Secured and unsecured pressure lead to different conversations.
7. Conflict names: the main creditors and any co-signers or co-owners.

Intake does not decide the chapter or the outcome. It captures the answers so the attorney can.

What should intake never say on a bankruptcy call?

• Do not tell the caller to stop paying a debt, to move money, or to transfer property. Those are legal decisions with real consequences, and they belong to the attorney.
• Do not promise that filing will stop a specific sale or garnishment. Say the attorney will review the dates.
• Do not take a long narrative before the conflict names. ABA Model Rule 1.18 applies to prospective clients, and a lawyer who learned information from one “shall not use or reveal that information” except as the rules allow.

What documentation should a firm request before the consult?

Waiting until the consult to ask for documents is how cases stall. The U.S. Courts overview says the debtor must provide “A list of all creditors and the amount and nature of their claims,” income information, property and monthly living expenses, and must give the trustee “a copy of the tax return or transcripts for the most recent tax year.” Send a short list right after the call:

• Recent pay stubs or other proof of income for the household.
• The most recent tax return.
• Recent statements for the debts that are pressing hardest.
• Any lawsuit, garnishment, foreclosure or repossession papers, with dates.
• Paperwork from any prior bankruptcy case.

Credit counseling is a separate early step. Under 11 U.S.C. 109(h), an individual generally may not be a debtor unless they received a briefing from an approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency “during the 180-day period ending on the date of filing of the petition,” subject to the exceptions in the statute. Let the attorney decide when to send the client to counseling.

How should bankruptcy intake hand off to the attorney?

Put the urgent date at the top of the record. Then the prior-filing answers, the transfer and payment answers, household size and income, the pressing debts, conflict names, and which documents were requested and when. If there is a sale or garnishment date inside the next week, the attorney should see the record the same day.

Which numbers should a bankruptcy practice track for intake?

1. Answer rate and speed to first response.
2. Share of intake records with the urgent date captured, or marked none.
3. Share of records with the prior-filing questions answered.
4. Consult booked rate.
5. Share of consults where documents arrived beforehand.
6. Consult to signed, by source.

Frequently asked questions

What should bankruptcy intake ask first?

Ask what is happening right now and whether there is a date, such as a foreclosure sale, garnishment or lawsuit. Then ask about prior bankruptcy filings, recent transfers or large payments, household size and income, the debts pressing hardest, and conflict names.

Why does bankruptcy intake ask about prior filings?

Prior cases can change what is available. For example, 11 U.S.C. 727(a)(8) bars a chapter 7 discharge if the debtor received one in a case commenced within 8 years before the new petition, and 11 U.S.C. 362(c)(3) can end the automatic stay on the 30th day when a prior case pending within the preceding year was dismissed.

What documents should a bankruptcy client bring to the consult?

Recent proof of household income, the most recent tax return, statements for the most pressing debts, any lawsuit, garnishment, foreclosure or repossession papers, and paperwork from any prior bankruptcy case. Send the list right after the intake call.

If you want to see exactly where bankruptcy calls are slipping in your current intake process, start with a free intake and sales audit.

Related reading

• Legal Intake: The Complete Guide for Law Firms
• The Legal Client Intake Form: What to Include and What to Cut
• Speed to Lead: Why the First Call Back Wins the Case
• How to Train an Intake Team on Legal Empathy and Objection Handling