The steps for filing for bankruptcy, basically, are these:

First, you or your attorney must prepare the paperwork. On the appropriate forms, you must list your property, your debts, and answer a number of specific questions. When the paperwork is completed, it is filed with the Federal Bankruptcy Court. There is a $200 filing fee for a chapter 7 bankruptcy and a $185 filing fee for a chapter 13 bankruptcy which is paid at the time of filing, or, under certain circumstances, the fee may be paid in installments. 

After your bankruptcy is filed, you and all of your creditors will receive a notice scheduling a hearing called a First Meeting of Creditors. The name of this hearing is misleading. Although each creditor has a right to attend this hearing, most of these hearings take place without any creditors being present. At the hearing, the Trustee, who is an attorney appointed by the Bankruptcy Court to represent the interests of all of your creditors, will ask you questions about your property and financial affairs.

Each creditor is notified of the deadline for filing an objection to your discharge.  Approximately two months after the First Meeting of Creditors, and if no creditor files a legal objection to your discharge, the Bankruptcy Court issues a document called a Discharge in Bankruptcy. This is the official order canceling your legal liability on all debts which fall into the category of being dischargeable.

Certain debts are not dischargeable, such as child support. Other types of debts are only dischargeable under certain specified circumstances, such as taxes and student loans. If the debt is a type which is not dischargeable, then you are still liable on that debt after your bankruptcy even though your other debts are discharged. Also, certain rules apply to secured debts, such as house mortgages and car liens. You have the option of either giving the car or house back to the creditor which holds the secured interest, in which event you owe nothing further, or you can reaffirm the debt, which means that you agree to continue paying the mortgage or lien, in which event the creditor must let you keep the house or car.

Although you do not require an attorney to file for bankruptcy, the paper work is complicated, and the way that the paperwork is filled out may determine whether you keep a certain item of property or discharge a given debt. It is also important that you choose the right type of bankruptcy. Under some circumstances, it may be more appropriate to file a Chapter 13 Wage Earners Plan, or a Chapter 11 reorganization. An attorney can help you make these decisions.