The short version: The Freedom Forever claim deadline was Friday, October 16. If you missed it, file anyway. A late claim still counts. It just gets paid later. And if you paid a deposit and got nothing, filing this week may still keep you near the front.

Late is not the same as never

Picture a long line of people Freedom Forever owes.

People who filed on time stand in front. People who file late stand behind them. People who never file are not in the line at all.

Behind is not great. But it beats not being in line. If there is money left after the on time claims are paid, the late claims are next.

So file. It is still free. It still takes about 20 minutes.

Sal says: The deadline passing does not erase what they owe you. It only changes where you stand.

The part almost nobody knows

Did you pay a deposit and get nothing? This part is for you.

The law gives regular people a special spot for deposit money. Up to $3,800 of it goes near the front of the line. That is the box on Line 12 of the form.

Here is the surprise. A late deposit claim can still keep that spot. It has to get in before the person running the case sends out his final report. Nobody knows when that will be. It could be months away. It could be sooner.

So do not wait. File this week.

Sal says: Line 12. The line that starts with "Deposits toward purchase." Check it. Write in your number, up to $3,800.

Never heard about the case?

Some people never got a letter. They found out from the news, or from a neighbor, or from this post.

If you did not know about the case in time to file, the law can treat your claim like it was on time. When you file, add a short note. Say when and how you first heard about the case. Keep it plain and true.

How to file late

It is the same form as before.

Go to restructuring.ra.kroll.com/FreedomForever and click "Claims." The case number is 26-10522. If it will not take your claim online, that page shows where to mail the form.

Fill in how much they owe you (Line 7), why (Line 8), and the deposit box if it fits you (Line 12). Send copies of your papers, never the real ones. Save your claim number.

Every step, with examples: How to file your Freedom Forever claim.

What did not change

Your loan is still your loan. Freedom Forever never held it. The company that sends your bill does. Keep paying it.

An unfinished system can still get finished. The court gave the loan companies permission to hire a new crew and finish the job. GoodLeap, EverBright, Sunrun, EnFin, Credit Human, Participate, and Project Solar are all on that list. Email whoever sends your bill: "Are you finishing my system, and when?" Keep the answer.

What to do this week

File your claim, even late.

Then take a hard look at your loan. Because the installer is gone, but the loan is not. If there is a fee hidden inside it, that is a problem for whoever is cashing your checks. And that company is still around.

Get your free Solar Relief Call →

Where this comes from: In re Freedom Forever LLC, Case No. 26-10522, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Chapter 7); the October 16, 2026 claim deadline and the loan companies' court permission to complete unfinished installations as reported by pv magazine USA, September 9, 2026; 11 U.S.C. § 726(a)(1) (priority claims filed late but before the trustee's final report), § 726(a)(2)(C) (late claims from creditors without notice), § 726(a)(3) (other late claims); 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(7) (deposit priority, $3,800).

The short version: Freedom Forever owes a lot of people money. The court gives you one free form to say they owe you. The last day to file it is this Friday, October 16. You can do it online today. No lawyer. No fee. About 20 minutes.

Do this today

Four steps. Use a computer, not a phone.

1. Get your papers. Your agreement. Proof of what you paid, like a bank statement. Photos of any unfinished work. Make copies. Black out your Social Security number and your bank account number.

2. Go to the case website. It is restructuring.ra.kroll.com/FreedomForever. Click "Claims." Then click the link to file a claim online. The case number is 26-10522.

3. Fill in three lines. Line 7 is how much they owe you. Line 8 is why, in one plain sentence. Line 12 is the box below.

4. Save your claim number. The website gives you one when you finish. Write it down. Save the email. That number is your proof that you are in line.

Want every step, with examples? Here is the full guide: How to file your Freedom Forever claim.

Sal says: Do not wait for Friday night. Websites slow down on the last day. Do it now while it is quiet.

The box that matters

Did you pay a deposit and get nothing? Then look at Line 12.

Find the line that starts with "Deposits toward purchase." Check it. Write in your number, up to $3,800.

That box moves your money near the front of the line. The front gets paid before the back. Nobody is going to check it for you.

If your claim is a repair, leave that box blank.

One thing the form does not do

It does not stop your bill.

Freedom Forever never held your loan or your lease. The company that sends your bill does. That company did not go bankrupt. Keep paying it. Stop paying and you are the one in trouble.

Then what

File today. Then take a hard look at your loan.

Because the installer is gone, but the loan is not. If there is a fee hidden inside it, that is a problem for whoever is cashing your checks. And that company is still around.

Get your free Solar Relief Call →

Where this comes from: In re Freedom Forever LLC, Case No. 26-10522, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Chapter 7); the October 16, 2026 claim deadline as reported by pv magazine USA, September 9, 2026; Official Form 410 (Proof of Claim); 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(7) (deposit priority, $3,800 for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025).

Update, October 17, 2026: The claim deadline has passed. You can still file a late claim. Here is what that means.

The short version: Freedom Forever is being sold off for parts. If they owe you money, the court lets you say so on one free form. It is called a proof of claim. The last day to file it is Friday, October 16. No lawyer. No fee. About 20 minutes. And there is one box on the form that moves you up the line. Here is how to do it.

Do they owe you?

You have a claim if any of these is you.

You paid money and got nothing. A deposit. A down payment. A payment for an extra part that never showed up.

Your system was never finished. Panels on the roof, but nothing turned on. Or no permit. Or no inspection.

Something broke that they were supposed to fix. The warranty on the install work covered the holes in your roof, the wiring, and the metal rails. That was a promise from Freedom Forever. Now it is a claim.

If none of these is you, you may not have a claim. That is fine. Skip to the end. The part about your bill still matters.

Sal says: "I am not sure if it counts" is not a reason to skip it. Filing is free. Not filing costs you your spot in line.

The box most people miss

Now the good part.

Picture a long line of people the company owes. Most customers stand near the back. The back gets paid last, if it gets paid at all.

But there is a rule for regular people who paid a deposit and got nothing. Up to $3,800 of that money gets to stand near the front.

The form has a box for this. Nobody is going to check it for you.

So say you paid Freedom Forever $5,000 and never got a system. $3,800 of that goes near the front of the line. The other $1,200 goes in the back. You still might not get all of it. But the front of the line beats the back.

Sal says: Line 12 on the form. Look for the line that starts with "Deposits toward purchase." That is you. Check it. Write in your number, up to $3,800.

How to file

Step 1. Get your papers together. Your agreement. Proof of what you paid, like a bank or credit card statement. Any emails where they promised you something. Photos of the unfinished work. The warranty page.

Make copies. You send copies, never the real thing. They scan what you send and may throw it out.

Black out your Social Security number and your bank account number on every page. The form tells you to. Your name and the amounts can stay.

Step 2. Go to the case website. It is restructuring.ra.kroll.com/FreedomForever. Kroll is the company the court hired to keep the list of claims. Click "Claims." Then look for the link to file a claim online. You can do the whole thing right there. If you would rather mail a paper form, that same page tells you where to send it. It is free either way.

Step 3. Fill in the form. Three parts matter.

Who you are. Your name, your address, your phone, your email. That is where the check goes if there ever is one. The case number is 26-10522. The company is Freedom Forever LLC.

How much. Line 7. If you paid a deposit and got nothing, it is the deposit. If your system was never finished, it is what you paid plus what it costs to finish. Get a written estimate from another installer for that. If your claim is a repair, it is what the repair costs. Get an estimate for that too.

Why. Line 8. One plain sentence. "Paid a $4,000 deposit on March 3, 2025 for a solar system that was never installed." Or "Roof leak at the panel mounts. Freedom Forever warranty. Repair estimate attached." That is all it needs.

Step 4. Check the box. Line 12. If you paid money and got nothing, check the "Deposits" line and write in your amount, up to $3,800. If your claim is a repair, this box is not for you. Leave it blank.

Step 5. Sign and send. Sign and date it. Be honest. Lying on this form is a crime. Attach your copies. Send it. Write down the claim number the website gives you. Save the email. That number is your proof that you are in line.

Sal says: Do this on a computer, not a phone. Scan your papers before you start. Twenty minutes is real if you are ready. Two hours is real if you are not.

What happens next

Nothing fast.

The court put a man named Alfred T. Giuliano in charge. His job is to sell what is left. Trucks. Tools. Office chairs. Then he pays people out. The law says who gets paid first.

That can take months. It can take years.

Will you get all of it? Probably not. Will you get some of it? Maybe. Nobody can promise you a number. Anyone who does is not telling the truth.

Here is what we can promise. File by October 16, and you are in line. File late, and the law puts you behind everyone who filed on time. Never file, and you are not in the line at all.

Two things this form does not do

It does not stop your bill. Freedom Forever never held your loan or your lease. The company that sends your bill does. That company did not go bankrupt. Your payment is due on the same day it always was. Filing a claim does not change that. Stop paying and you are the one in trouble.

It does not fix your panels. Nobody at Freedom Forever is coming.

But if your system was never finished, here is news you may not have heard. The court gave the loan companies permission to hire a new crew and finish the job. GoodLeap, EverBright, Sunrun, EnFin, Credit Human, Participate, and Project Solar are all on that list.

So call the company that sends your bill. Ask them, in writing, "Are you finishing my system, and when?" Keep the answer.

If your system is finished and something broke, your panels and inverter are still covered by the company that made them. Call the maker. Have your serial numbers ready.

Sal says: The loan company has permission to finish your system. Nobody told them to hurry. Your dated email asking "when" is your proof that you asked.

What to do today

Three things.

Scan your papers.

File the form. It is free, it is online, and it is the only way into the line.

Then have someone read what the loan company still holds. Because the installer is gone, but the loan is not. If there is a fee hidden inside it, that is a problem for whoever is cashing your checks. And that company is very much still around.

Get your free Solar Relief Call →

Where this comes from: In re Freedom Forever LLC, Case No. 26-10522, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Chapter 7 conversion effective August 7, 2026); the claim deadline and the loan companies' court permission to complete unfinished installations as reported by pv magazine USA, September 9, 2026; Official Form 410 (Proof of Claim) and the District of Delaware claims filing page; 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(7) (deposit priority, $3,800 for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025) and § 726(a) (order of payment in Chapter 7).

Update, October 17, 2026: The claim deadline has passed. You can still file a late claim. Here is what that means.

The short version: Freedom Forever, the second biggest home solar installer in the country, is being sold off for parts. Not fixed. Not bought. Liquidated. If they put panels on your roof, your warranty is now a line in a court file, and your bill still shows up every month like nothing happened. There is a deadline. It is October 16. Here is the whole story, and what to do before then.

Back in April, everybody said "sit tight"

Picture April. Freedom Forever files for bankruptcy. The Chapter 11 kind. That is the kind where a company says, "We just need a minute to catch our breath."

Customers got told to sit tight. Keep paying. Somebody will be in touch.

Nobody was in touch.

Then they went shopping for a buyer

Over the summer, the company went looking for someone to buy it.

They called about 90 possible buyers. Nineteen of them signed papers so they could open the books and take a look.

Nineteen people opened the books. Nineteen people closed them again.

Not one real offer came in. The only bid on the table came from insiders tied to the company's own boss. The folks the company owes money to looked at that offer and said, politely, no thanks.

Sal says: When 19 buyers look at the books and every one of them walks, the books are the news. Whatever they saw, they did not want to own it.

August 7: the judge pulled the plug

With no buyer, the judge in Delaware switched the case over to Chapter 7.

Chapter 11 is "we need a minute." Chapter 7 is "sell the office chairs."

A court officer called a trustee now runs what is left. His name is Alfred T. Giuliano. His job is not to help you. His job is to turn every last thing into cash and hand it out to the people who are owed. You are on that list. You are also near the back of it, behind the folks in suits.

So who is coming to fix your panels?

Nobody. Not the crew. Not the rep who sat at your kitchen table. Not even the guy who set up the app on your phone.

Meanwhile, on your roof

Here is the funny thing about your solar system. It has no idea the company is gone.

Your inverter does not read the news. It just knows it is Tuesday, and the bill knows it too.

That bill is the part people get wrong, so let us slow down.

Your warranty is now a claim, not a promise. The workmanship warranty covers the install itself. The holes in your roof. The wiring. The racking. That was a promise from Freedom Forever, and Freedom Forever is gone. So the promise is now a claim in a pile of claims, and the pile is a lot bigger than the money.

The equipment is a different story, and a better one. Your panels and your inverter are covered by the company that made them, not the company that bolted them on. That company is still in business. You call the maker now. Have your serial numbers ready.

Your bill still comes. Freedom Forever never held your loan or your lease. A finance company does. That finance company did not go bankrupt. It is doing just fine, thank you. Your payment is due on the same day it has always been due. Stop paying and you are the one in trouble. Not them.

If your system was never finished, you are in the worst spot of all. You are paying every month for panels that make nothing. Write to your finance company. Tell them the system they paid for was never turned on, and the installer is in Chapter 7. Ask them what they plan to do about it. Keep a copy.

Sal says: Go to the Freedom Forever customer portal today and download everything. Your agreement, your permit, your warranty, every email. When that website goes dark, it takes your paperwork with it.

The deadline: October 16

Now the part with a clock on it.

October 16, 2026 is the last day to file what the court calls a "proof of claim." Fancy name. Simple form. It tells the trustee, "Hey. This company owes me too."

Paid a deposit and never got your system? File one. System never finished? File one. Was your workmanship warranty worth something to you? File one.

Will you get paid? Nobody can promise that. Like we said, you are near the back of the line. But here is the thing about lines. If you do not file, you are not in the line at all. You are in the parking lot.

The form is free. The case website is restructuring.ra.kroll.com/FreedomForever. The case number is 26-10522.

One more date for the fridge. On Tuesday, September 22, at 11 in the morning Eastern, the trustee holds the meeting of creditors. You can listen in by phone or video. You do not have to. But you are allowed to, because you are one of the people this company owes. Bring coffee.

The plot twist: the bank never left

Here is the part a bankruptcy does not erase, and it is the best news in this whole story.

In July, Michigan's Attorney General sued a solar company called Climax Solar. Climax had closed in 2024. Bankrupt. Gone. Lights off.

She sued them anyway. Then she turned around and sued the banks that financed the deals, right along with them.

About 1,700 Michigan families. $81 million in loans. More than $22 million of that was hidden financing cost, baked into the price and never shown as a fee. Those fees averaged 27% of what people borrowed.

Twenty seven cents of every dollar. A fee nobody mentioned.

The state's own words for how the whole thing worked: pitch, sign, fund, fail, and collect. Five words. It almost rhymes.

Notice what did not happen. The installer going broke did not let the bank off the hook. If your loan has a hidden fee tucked inside it, that is a problem for whoever holds your loan today. And that company is very much still around.

Sal says: When the installer vanishes, most people stop looking at the paperwork. Look harder. The lender did not vanish. The lender is the one still cashing your checks.

"Okay. So what do I actually do?"

Three things before October 16.

Save your documents. Today, not this weekend.

File your proof of claim. It costs nothing, and it is the only way into the line.

Then have someone read what you actually signed. Not the sales pitch. The agreement, and the loan sitting behind it. The company that sold it is gone. The company collecting on it is not.

Get your free Solar Relief Call →

Because your installer is gone, but your agreement is not. Somebody should read it before the deadline, not after.

Where this comes from: In re Freedom Forever LLC, Case No. 26-10522, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Chapter 7 conversion effective August 7, 2026); creditor meeting and claim deadline as reported by pv magazine USA, September 9, 2026; the failed insider sale as reported by Law360 and Bloomberg Law, August 2026; Michigan Attorney General press release, July 15, 2026.

The short version:

• The 30% federal solar tax credit ended on January 1, 2026. If you buy a system this year with cash or a loan, you get $0 back.

• The only way to still get 30% is a lease or a PPA. But then the solar company keeps the credit, not you.

• Here is the part most people miss. If a salesperson sold you on that credit, you may have a problem right now. Even if your panels are already on the roof.

What just changed

For years, solar came with a big federal tax credit. You bought a system. You got 30% of the cost back at tax time. That was the deal.

That deal is over.

A new law signed in July 2025 ended the credit for homeowners who buy their own system. The rule is called Section 25D. It dropped to zero on January 1, 2026. There was no slow phase-out. One day it was 30%. The next day it was nothing.

So here is where things stand in 2026. Buy solar with cash this year, you get $0 from the government. Buy it with a loan, same thing. $0.

One path to a 30% credit is left. It is a lease or a PPA (a power purchase agreement). But read this part closely. In a lease or a PPA, you do not own the system. The solar company owns it. So the solar company keeps the 30% credit. Not you.

That matters. Because a salesperson can still knock on your door in 2026 and say "there's a 30% tax credit." That can be true. But it may mean a lease where you own nothing and pay for 25 years.

Sal says: If a rep mentions a "30% credit" in 2026, ask one question. "Do I own the system, or do you?" Because if they own it, the credit is theirs, not yours.

Why this matters even if you already have solar

You might think this does not apply to you. Your panels are already up. The credit is the next person's problem.

It may not be.

A lot of homeowners were sold on that tax credit. It was the number that made the whole deal sound good. And for many people, that number was wrong.

Here are the two traps we see most.

Trap one: the credit you could not use

The solar tax credit was nonrefundable. That is a tax word, so here is what it means in plain terms. You could only use the credit if you owed federal taxes that year. The credit lowered your tax bill. It did not come to you as a check.

Now think about who buys a lot of solar. Retirees. People on fixed incomes. People who already owe little or nothing in federal taxes.

If that is you, the credit your rep promised may have been worth a small part of what they said. For some people, it was worth nothing at all. The savings on paper were never going to reach your bank account.

Most reps never checked. They quoted the full 30% to everyone. Because it helped close the sale.

Trap two: the loan built around a credit you had to pay back in

This one is bigger. And it is hidden inside the loan.

Many solar loans are built in a way that hides the real cost. They quote you a low monthly payment. That low payment only works if you take your tax credit and pay it straight back into the loan. Usually around month 18.

If you did that, fine. But if you did not get the full credit, or could not use it, or just did not know you were supposed to pay it in, the loan changes. The payment goes up. Sometimes by a lot.

A homeowner who was promised "around $130 a month" can open a statement and find $180 or more. The math was never built for real life. It was built for the sale.

There is often a hidden dealer fee inside that loan too. It can be thousands of dollars added to the amount you financed. You were never shown it clearly. Under federal lending law, that can be a real violation.

Sal says: Pull your loan agreement today. Because the payment-jump terms are usually on page 10 or later, and most homeowners never read past the monthly number on page one.

How to tell if this happened to you

You do not need to be an expert. You just need to check a few things.

• Pull out your solar loan agreement. The whole thing, not the one-page summary.

• Look for a payment that goes up after a set time. Often around 18 months.

• Did your monthly payment already jump? That is a sign the credit was built into the deal.

• Were you told to "expect a tax refund" that would cover part of the cost?

• Look for a "dealer fee," or a gap between the system price and the amount you financed.

If any of these sound familiar, you are not alone. And it is worth a closer look.

What you can do now

Here is the good news. You have options, even now. Even if the panels are already up. Even if the company that sold them is gone.

The first step is simple. Find out exactly what you signed, and whether it holds up.

That is what the Free Solar Relief Assessment is for. It is free. It takes a few minutes. You tell us what happened, and we help you see if your agreement has a problem worth fixing.

Because the time to find out something is wrong is before you need someone to fix it.

Take your free Solar Relief Assessment →