The process of going bankrupt is mighty strange indeed. It's likely you'll feel some apprehension, trepidation and maybe even outright fear for weeks beforehand but when the big day cometh it's actually... a bit rubbish.
First of all, you have to make an appointment for your bankruptcy date at court. This would be perfectly normal if you didn't then find out that it will be six weeks before you can actually be fitted in. This will be simultaneously annoying and reassuring, annoying because you've worked up the courage to call the court and now have to wait in nervous limbo for your appointment and reassuring because it seems everyone's at it. Of course, you can fill your waiting time completing the bankruptcy form, which often doesn't make a great deal of sense and takes quite a while to fill in. You might do this online so you don't waste too much time, and copies of the form, having to rewrite all the pages with scribbling out on them. It's unlikely you will receive many thanks for this however, because the bankruptcy clerk dealing with you at the court may not like these 'internet ones' and will tell you it's actually 'much better' to fill the ones you can get from court by hand because they're 'really different' and 'easier to read' than the ones you've painstakingly completed and nervously handed-over. The clerk is likely to say all this while standing in front of several large posters advertising the great new online bankruptcy form service.
You'd think that given the enormity of the event in your own life there'd be at least an acknowledgement of the impact this appointment has had/is about to have on everything you've known before. After all, you will think, it will affect your livelihood, family, relationships, sense-of-self, social-status, credit-worthiness and of course, your skin and hair (could become greasy, could become dry. It's a lottery). Perhaps some trumpets to announce your arrival would be appropriate, or a drum-roll as you approach the bankruptcy clerk. You never imagine the only remarkable event on your entry will be the security guard telling you to 'smile' while he scans you for firearms. What a cheeky chap! If only you weren't going into bankruptcy court! Then he'd just be an irritating little nob-head instead of being a highly inappropriate, offensive little nob-head. Come on though, you'll think to yourself, he doesn't know I'm about to have my world change with the speed of a county court stamp, he doesn't realise I've spent my nights worrying that someone I know will recognise me on my way into court and somehow realise that I'm bankrupt ("Ah!" they'll say to their wife as they take their daily stroll past the county court, "there's little Janette from No.2. She's looking meaty-bodied, greasy-faced and 
white-pallored... Why! She has signs of the newly bankrupt if ever I've seen them!"). No, he knows none of this and you aren't carrying firearms so you can finally get away from his B.O. and halitosis (you may be skint but at least you take pride in your personal hygiene you'll think to yourself - and you'll be right. He's a stinker!). You'll then walk through to the 'Enforcement Office', which can be anything from a bright and airy open plan office in a newly-built court or a cramped and oppressive back-room of an old and rickety court building. If you are in the latter at least you won't have the embarrassment of everyone in the office hearing every detail of the minutae of your life, which is what happened to me. I felt like elaborating a bit just to make it more entertaining for them "Yes clerk, that's correct, I'm am declaring myself bankrupt for the sum of £20 million pounds in the biggest financial scandal since Robert Maxwell" but of course, they just got to hear about the repossession orders on my house and car instead. The clerk will go through your forms to make sure you've answered all the questions correctly and may ask further questions to confirm some of the answer. S/he may appear to be rather bored with your bankruptcy, listening to home and car repossessions and the ruination of your/your family's livelihoods with a blank expression. You will understand this attitude since soon-to-be bankrupts are queuing up for an appointments and the clerk must hear this kind of thing a hundred times a week; however, while the clerk may be desensitised to the effects of financial devastation you are not and you may feel a spike of resentment that they can't appear even mildly sympathetic to the fact that you've lost everything of value that you own, including your job. You'll then have to pay your £475 fee to the clerk, £325 if you're on benefits, after which you'll be taken through to the main court area to wait for a judge to become free so that your case can be heard. While you're sitting there you may be overwhelmed by how many of the other people there are waiting for house repossession hearings. There are lots of them, looking wan and hollow-eyed and you may feel a strange sense of community with these other men and women staring at the floor waiting for their future to be decided in that county court. 
The judge may or may not want to see you during the hearing, which will probably last less than ten minutes. If s/he does want to see you they will just confirm that you understand the implications of bankruptcy (i.e. that your it will have an adverse effect on your credit-rating and ability to get a mortgage and will mean that all your finances and assets will be taken out of your control and put into the hands of your trustee in bankruptcy). The judge may or may not have fully grasped why you have decided to declare yourself bankrupt and may ask what seems like stupid questions about your case. For instance, they may ask of you have exhausted all other means of dealing with your debt when you are half a million pounds in debt and are unemployed. While you say "yes" you may well be wondering if the judge has in fact read any of the details on your form, especially when they ask "So you've run up these debts on your credit cards have you?" when in fact you have run up these debts through personal guarantees to your now also bankrupt Company.
When s/he is satisfied that you fully understand bankruptcy and that it's what you really want, they will stamp your form and you will be led out of the room and back to the Enforcement Office. At this point you will be put on the telephone to the Official Receiver's Office and the person at the other end of the line will probably be the friendliest person you've spoken to all day. You may feel slightly emotional at this point just because they're speaking to you like you're a normal person instead of with the detatchment you've experienced for the past couple of hours. The pleasant person at the Official Receiver's Office will ask you a few questions about your assets, give you their name and number to give any creditors should you need to, and will let you know when your interview with them will be. This interview could be conducted either at their Office or over the telephone and you will have to organise all your financial papers (bank statements, credit-card statements, pension correspondence, debt collection agency letters etc.) for the past two years and send them into the the Receiver's Office before the interview date. Once you have got through the hearing date, however, you have got through the worst. The best thing to do is to arrange something nice and light-hearted for afterwards, whether you watch a film with a glass of wine or you see some friends who 
always cheer you up, do whatever you need to do to lift your spirits again. Stay away from anyone who makes you feel worse about the situation and concentrate on the fact that you've made a major step to getting your life back on track again. Just think, no more having to mentally prepare yourself before you open the post, no more avoiding the phone when it's ringing or hiding behind your sofa if a bloke with a clipboard knocks on the door, all those daily anxieties will be over - you can focus on an exciting new future where you'll wiser, stronger and more positive than you ever were before. Keep smiling - the future's looking brighter for us, Ladies in the Red.