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Following, you will find answers to some common questions. These answers are general in nature and may not always apply to your unique financial situation. When you read this pamphlet, if you have a specific question, write it down and talk to your lawyer about it during your first interview. The first interview is at no charge to you and we will look at your unique individual financial situation and explore all of your options, including possible nonbankruptcy solutions.
DISCLAIMER COMMON BANKRUPTCY QUESTIONS
WHAT A CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY COSTS WHAT A CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY COSTS HOW YOUR LAWYER'S OFFICE CAN HELP YOU AND HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUR LAWYER
Bankruptcy
is a legal proceeding in which a person who cannot pay his or her
debts can get a fresh financial start. The right to file
bankruptcy was provided by our Founding Fathers in the United States
Constitution and is federal law. All bankruptcy cases are
handled in federal court. Depending on the circumstances and
the nature of your debts, filing bankruptcy temporarily or
permanently stops your creditors from seeking to collect debts or
obtain property from you. Who are the parties in a bankruptcy? The “Debtor” is the person who owes debts. The “Creditor” the the person or entity to whom a debt is owed. The “Trustee” is a non-judge person who administers the bankruptcy estate. The “Judge” is a person who makes rulings in a bankruptcy case, when necessary. (In most cases, it is not necessary for a Judge to rule on anything. Most cases are handled by the Trustee.)
The “U.S.
Trustee” is the office that oversees the bankruptcy system. What is a Chapter 7 bankruptcy? A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is known as "straight" bankruptcy or "liquidation." It requires a debtor to give up property which exceeds certain limits called "exemptions," so the property can be sold by the Trustee to pay creditors. (Most consumer Chapter 7 bankruptcies are no-asset bankruptcies, which means there is no property available for sale over and above the exemptions.) Chapter 7 is considered a "fresh start." It completely wipes out most unsecured debts. These are debts which don't have any collateral. (For example, medical bills, most credit card debt, and deficiencies from repossessed automobiles and foreclosed real estate are unsecured debts.) Under Chapter 7, you must be able to keep up your regular payments on your secured debts if you want to keep the collateral. (“Secured” debts are debts that have collateral, such as your house or car.) If you cannot catch up and make your regular payments, you may decide to give the property back to the creditor. Then the debt becomes unsecured and it can be discharged through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. (Another option if you can’t catch up on payments on secured property is a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.) Filing
a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will temporarily stop a foreclosure or a repossession
if it is filed before the foreclosure or repossession occurs, but in order to keep your secured
property in a Chapter 7, you must be caught up on your payments.
(It is possible for a creditor to agree to let you keep the property
if you are behind in your payments, but generally they do not agree
to do this.) Chapter 13 is called "debt adjustment." A Chapter 13 is a repayment Plan where you pay back all or part of your debts over time, up to five years. A payment is made each payday to the Chapter 13 Trustee and then the Chapter 13 Trustee's office pays a certain amount to each creditor listed on the Chapter 13 Plan. Filing a Chapter 13 will stop a foreclosure or repossession (before it occurs), and, if you are behind on your mortgage payments or other payments, you can pay those back payments through the Plan along with your regular mortgage payment. The Chapter 13 must be filed before the foreclosure on a home occurs. Once your home is sold at the foreclosure auction, it is too late to stop it by filing bankruptcy. In the case of a repossessed car, however, if the car is necessary to a successful reorganization of your debts, the car may, depending on the circumstances, be regained from the Creditor even after the repossession. Your regular payment into the Plan will be determined based upon the difference between your income and your reasonable and necessary living expenses, such as rent, utilities, food, car insurance and so on. Your living expenses are subtracted from your income, and what you have left (called “disposable income”) goes to the Chapter 13 Trustee to pay your debts. If you are employed, a payroll deduction order will be sent to your employer, and, each time you are paid, your Chapter 13 payment will be paid directly to the Trustee. This is not a garnishment. After we see what amount you have available to pay into a Plan, then we can calculate what your creditors will be paid and make a Plan which will be proposed to the Trustee.
Creditors have the right to object to our Plan and secured creditors
have the right to renegotiate our Plan
proposal. Once the Plan is confirmed, however, and 25 days has
passed, the creditors are bound by the Chapter 13 Plan. Bankruptcy cannot cure every financial problem, nor is it the right step for every individual. In bankruptcy, it is usually not possible to do certain things. For example:
Will I lose my property if I file bankruptcy? Under Tennessee law, you are allowed to keep $4,000.00 worth of personal property for each person filing the bankruptcy. This means if you and your spouse file together, you may keep $8,000.00 worth of personal property. In determining the value of your property, you do not consider what it would cost to replace the property (replacement value) but how much cash you would receive if you sold your used property at flea market, garage sale or private party prices (market value). If
there is collateral securing a debt, you will have the option in a
Chapter 7 of keeping the property and keeping the debt ("reaffirmation"), keeping the property by purchasing it in a lump
sum at market value ("redemption"), or returning the
property in exchange for having the debt wiped out ("surrender"). In a Chapter 13, you may keep the property and make payments
into the Plan or
give the property back and treat that creditor as unsecured. You can keep all property which the law says is exempt from the claims of creditors:
Can I own anything after bankruptcy? Yes. You can keep your exempt property, collateral you are paying for (if
the equity in such collateral doesn’t exceed exemptions), and
anything you obtain after the bankruptcy. However, if you receive
an inheritance or life insurance benefits within 180 days after
filing for bankruptcy, those proceeds will become part of the
bankruptcy estate and will be used to pay your debts. Can I work and have wages and still file bankruptcy? Yes.
The amount of income that you have by itself has no effect on your
ability to file bankruptcy. If, however, you have more income than
you need for reasonable and necessary living expenses, you could be
denied a Chapter 7 discharge. If you think this might apply to you,
we need to discuss it. What if my employer has a garnishment from a creditor? Once
the bankruptcy is filed, the garnishment must stop (unless it’s for
child support). What if a creditor has sued me and now has a judgment? After you have been sued for a debt and the creditor has obtained a judgment against you, the next step the creditor will take is to attempt to seize your bank account or wages (called a “garnishment”), seize any other property you may own, or put a lien on your real estate by filing their judgment at the Register of Deeds. There are nonbankruptcy steps you can take to protect your property from your creditors. If this applies to you, make sure we discuss it during the first interview.
Once you
file for bankruptcy, the judgment debt is treated like all of the
rest of your debts and will be either discharged in a Chapter 7 or
paid in part or in full in a Chapter 13. An exception is a judgment
that has been filed at the Register of Deeds. That may be a
problem, depending on the situation. As soon
as the bankruptcy is filed, creditors must stop all actions toward
collection. This includes telephone calls as well as legal
actions. Once you have retained a bankruptcy attorney, you may tell
the creditor that you intend to file bankruptcy and suggest that
they call my office and not to bother you any further, but they
don’t have to stop until the bankruptcy is actually filed with the
Bankruptcy Court. What debts are not dischargeable in bankruptcy? Bankruptcy will not normally wipe out:
All of your debts must be listed on the bankruptcy. You cannot pick and choose which ones to list. However, as it pertains to secured debts, you can decide to pick and choose which ones to keep. This requires the creditor to agree as well. If you can keep your payments up to date, you may want to reaffirm certain secured debts, such as your home or your car. "Reaffirmation" is signing a contract that reobligates you to pay a debt despite the bankruptcy. You can also pay back unsecured debts if you want to, such as doctor bills and debts co-signed by relatives and friends, but the creditors cannot make you pay them back unless you have formally reaffirmed that debt. In a
Chapter 13, secured debts are treated very differently than in a
Chapter 7. A Chapter 13 is designed to help you keep your secured
property by making monthly payments. Mortgage payments have to
be the same, but other secured debts can be "crammed down" to a
lower payment, and unsecured debts can be paid
under the Plan 1 cent on the dollar all the way to 100
cents on the dollar, depending on your ability to repay. This is up to each credit card company. In some cases, as long as you are not seriously behind on your payments and you maintain payments during the bankruptcy, the credit card company may allow you to continue to keep your credit account open after the bankruptcy is over. Some credit card companies, on the other hand, will not allow you to keep your credit card under any circumstances if there is a bankruptcy.
You
cannot use any kind of credit on a Chapter 13 Plan, including credit
cards, without the
permission of the Bankruptcy Court. Should I file jointly with my spouse? If both you and your spouse want to be released from the obligation of paying joint debts, you will both have to file. Otherwise, if just one spouse files, only that person is discharged on the debt. The other spouse will remain liable on the debt. However, a spouse has the right to file solely, without the permission of his or her spouse, regardless of the other spouse's obligation on joint debts. The fee
is the same for an individual or joint Bankruptcy Petition. What should I do if I am divorced and my ex-spouse is on some of the debts? It is necessary to list all debts which your name might be on, even if the divorce court awarded your spouse the debt. A divorce does not end the obligation between you and the creditor. A bankruptcy will prevent a creditor from taking legal steps towards collection against you.
Depending on the circumstances, you may or may not be able to
discharge debts which you were required to pay from the divorce
court, but we will need to discuss the effect that this could have
on your ex-spouse and possible actions your ex-spouse may have
against you in divorce court and/or bankruptcy court. If you have
any debts with your ex-spouse or debts awarded to you in a divorce,
please bring your Final Decree and Marital Dissolution Agreement
with you to the first interview. How will a bankruptcy affect my credit rating? A bankruptcy will hurt your credit rating, whether it is a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13. When you are looking for credit in the future, creditors may take the time to examine the reasons for bankruptcy. They may ask if there has been an event which caused the bankruptcy, such as a divorce, an accident or illness, a judgment entered against you, or some other event which triggered the bankruptcy. The creditor may consider the fact that your credit was good prior to that event and, since the bankruptcy, you have had a good credit record. However, creditors are entitled to deny you credit because of your bankruptcy. Successful completion of a Chapter 13 Plan should look better on
your credit report, since it indicates that you paid all or part of
your debts rather than completely wiping them out under Chapter 7.
But it is still a bankruptcy and many creditors do not make
any distinction between a Chapter 7 and a Chapter 13 when
considering whether to grant you credit and the cost of that credit. How can I correct or “repair” my credit report? A bankruptcy does not repair your credit report and your bankruptcy attorney has no responsibility for helping you with this process. The information on your credit report is reported to one or more of the credit reporting agencies from companies you have credit with, such as banks, mortgage companies, department stores, finance companies, credit card issuers, etc. Some creditors do not report information. Some information, such as bankruptcies, judgments, lawsuits and tax liens, comes from the public records of various court systems and government agencies. When you file a bankruptcy, the Bankruptcy Court notifies the three major credit reporting agencies that you have filed bankruptcy. Credit reporting agencies are governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and companion state laws. The FCRA permits credit reporting agencies to list positive information on your credit report indefinitely. In accordance with federal law, accurate potentially negative information, such as late payments or an account turned over to a collection agency, can remain on your credit report for seven years. However, bankruptcies can remain on your credit report for up to 10 years, and unpaid tax liens may remain for 15 years. If you disagree with information on your credit report or you believe it is inaccurate, let them know in writing within 90 days of receiving your credit report. They will verify the information at no cost to you. The appropriate phone number and address for your area are listed on the credit report. When you write, be as specific as possible and include copies of pertinent documents. When they receive your request, they will ask the sources that provided the information to them to check their records. Incorrect information will be corrected. Information that cannot be verified will be deleted. This process takes up to 30 days, and, when the research is complete, they will send you the results. If you still disagree, you may then request that a comment be added to your credit report. You may also request the business name and address of the source of their investigation information. “Frivolous” or “irrelevant” disputes (generally those which do not contain specific information or exact reasons) will not be investigated. You may have seen or heard advertisements from companies that claim they can “repair” your credit. No one can have accurate, current and verifiable information removed from your credit report. Many states have laws regulating the practices of these companies. You may wish to check with the Better Business Bureau or a local consumer protection agency before contacting or paying for credit repair services. The
National Foundation for Credit Counseling has more than 1,000
nonprofit member agencies that can help you establish a budget and
negotiate a repayment plan with your creditors. You can call (800)
388-2227 for the address and telephone number of the office nearest
you. Locally, in Clarksville, Tennessee, there is the Consumer Credit Counseling Service at
(931) 647-2726. Are the names of people who file bankruptcy published? A
bankruptcy is a public record. The Credit Bureau publishes a
pamphlet which goes out to anyone who is a member of the Credit
Bureau, such as collection agencies and some businesses, which does
list the names of recently filed bankruptcies. There are no
newspapers in Clarksville which list the people who have filed for
bankruptcy. Information is also available on the internet regarding
people who have filed bankruptcy, but usually only creditors and
bankruptcy lawyers know how to access it. Will my employer find out that I filed bankruptcy? If you file a Chapter 13, the amount that you pay to the Chapter 13 Trustee is taken out of your wages by your employer and sent to the Trustee, so your employer is going to know about the fact that you filed a Chapter 13 simply because that is part of the process. In the case of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, however, unless it is necessary to stop a garnishment coming out of your check, your employer will not be notified of the bankruptcy. Should
your employer discover that you filed bankruptcy, it is against
federal law for that employer to discriminate against you or fire
you on that basis alone. What is the Automatic Stay & are there exceptions to it? The filing of a bankruptcy automatically, by operation of law, implements a stay of all activity by creditors to collect debt from you. While the protection of the automatic stay prohibits creditors from taking any steps to collect a debt, as a practical matter, a creditor will not know about the filing of a bankruptcy petition for about two weeks from the date the bankruptcy is filed, because it takes approximately that long for the Bankruptcy Court to send out notices to the creditors. Accordingly, please direct any inquiry you may receive from a creditor to our office. If a creditor persists in attempting to collect a debt from you after you have advised him of the bankruptcy filing and to call our office, please get his/her name, address, & phone number, and let us know at once. Please note that there are several notable exceptions to the automatic stay. First, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §553, a bank, savings and loan, credit union, or other institution in which you have a deposit, is allowed to take that deposit and take a setoff against any outstanding debt that you have with that financial institution. Therefore, if you have a deposit with a financial institution with which you also have a debt, please take immediate steps to remove the funds from that institution. The financial institution may set off all funds which were in the account at the time you filed your bankruptcy petition. We, therefore, recommend that you not make further deposits into an account with a financial institution to whom you owe a debt, but that you open an account with another financial institution to whom you don't owe any money. Second, an outstanding check or a postdated check is considered a negotiable instrument, and may be presented to your bank for payment despite the bankruptcy filing. Unless you want that creditor to be paid from funds in your account, we recommend issuing a stop payment order at the bank on those checks to protect yourself. Please make sure you list those as debts. Third, there are special rules concerning utilities pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §366. A utility may not cut off service to you for a period of 20 days after the filing of your bankruptcy petition, but may discontinue service thereafter if you do not post a reasonable deposit with the utility. You are required to contact the utility company within 20 days and make a new deposit, and you are responsible for any utility bill after the filing of your bankruptcy petition. Fourth,
the automatic stay does not stop the prosecution of a crime, such as
writing an insufficient funds check. (Please note that writing
a post-dated check to a check advance business is not an
insufficient funds check because they knew at the time you wrote the
check that you did not have the money in the bank to cover it).
The automatic stay does not stop
divorce proceedings, paternity proceedings and proceedings to establish and collect child
support and alimony. How long will a bankruptcy take? A bankruptcy is different from any other court process. In any other court case, you are concerned with how long it takes to get to court to have the judge decide your case. In a bankruptcy, however, the most important step in the process is the filing of the Petition with the Bankruptcy Court. Once this is done, the "automatic stay" goes into effect and creditors must stop all efforts toward collection. If a creditor wants to continue to proceed against you, they must go through the Bankruptcy Court.
The rest
of the bankruptcy procedure is simply your case making its way
through the bankruptcy process. This involves your attendance at a
Meeting of Creditors (where your creditors may or may not actually
show up, but you have to show up). Eventually, you will get your discharge from the Court.
Generally, you will receive your Chapter 7 discharge in three to six
months from the date of filing the Petition, and you will receive
your Chapter 13 discharge upon successful completion of the Plan.
If difficulties arise during the bankruptcy, it can take longer to
obtain the discharge order. I have some co-signers on my debt. How will bankruptcy affect them? If you
have co-signers on any debts, a bankruptcy will relieve you from
liability on that debt, but a co-signer or guarantor will remain
liable. If you want to protect a co-signer or guarantor, you may
choose in a Chapter 7 to reaffirm the debt. In a Chapter 13, there
may be steps taken under the Plan to protect a co-signer or
guarantor under the Plan. Whether you will be able to do this
depends on your individual financial circumstances. If I file bankruptcy, do I have to go to court? In the case of a Chapter 7, unless a complication arises, you will not be going to court and you will not see a Judge. You will be attending a Meeting of Creditors and this is held in a meeting room rather than a courtroom. You will be under oath and you will be required under penalty of perjury to answer questions by the Trustee concerning your property and your debts. (You also signed your Petition under penalty of perjury.) Secured creditors may appear to ask you questions about what your intentions are regarding collateral. It is an informal proceeding and actually takes about five minutes in front of the Trustee, though you need to plan on being there for about two hours. You never have to appear in a courtroom and be a witness on the witness stand unless your bankruptcy develops a complication. If you answer each and every question in your bankruptcy worksheets truthfully and completely, these complicated situations can be anticipated and avoided before we file the Petition with the Bankruptcy Court. In the
case of a Chapter 13, the Meeting of Creditors is usually where your
attorney negotiates with your creditors. When we file a Chapter 13
bankruptcy, we propose a Plan to pay off your debts. Your attorney
will spend time negotiating with your creditors to arrive at an
agreement. There may be changes in the proposed Plan as a result of
those negotiations. The Plan will then be presented to the Trustee
for approval and "confirmation." You will also be asked to agree to
the Plan and the amount of the monthly payment. What if I can't make it to my Meeting of Creditors? For an additional fee, you can "attend" your Meeting of Creditors by "interrogatories," which are written questions and answers, but you have to have a very good reason for not attending your Meeting of Creditors in person. Your Meeting of Creditors can be rescheduled for a very good reason, but this also involves additional fees & costs. If you
are prevented from attending your Meeting of Creditors by an
unexpected event or your Meeting of Creditors falls on a day which
you just can't make, let us know as soon as possible. If you simply
do not show up and we don't know why, the Bankruptcy Court will
dismiss your bankruptcy.
There are alternatives to bankruptcy, depending upon your unique
financial situation, and these alternatives are always explored
before filing for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy worksheets require
a lot of information, but all of this information is
required to evaluate your unique financial circumstances so that
we can examine each and every alternative to filing bankruptcy.
Your initial interview is a financial consultation and we will
explore all your options and alternatives. How can I be sure my dischargeable debts will be discharged? Make certain all creditors are listed on your Bankruptcy Questionnaire. Do not just list creditors for the debts you would like to have discharged. Federal law requires that you include each and every creditor on your bankruptcy, even family members and friends to whom you owe money. Make sure that you list complete names, addresses, including zip codes, account numbers and balances for each and every one of your creditors. If the debt has been turned over to a collection agency, lawyer's office or you have been sued, list the name and address of the original creditor and the name and address of the collection agency, lawyer's office or court. The debt may not be discharged if the creditor is not notified of the bankruptcy. Also bring copies of your bills, legal papers and lawsuits with you to the initial interview. Obtain a copy of your credit report and bring it with you to your
initial interview. Make sure you provide all previous addresses to
the Credit Reporting Agency so that they can get complete
information on all your debts, including those from other states. How can I stop creditors from calling at home or at work? Once you have retained your bankruptcy lawyer, which occurs after you have attended the initial interview and paid part of the fee, you may then tell your creditors that you are planning to file bankruptcy and to call your lawyer if they have additional questions. Give them the name and telephone number of your lawyer. At that time, they may stop talking with you directly and should call this office. However, they don’t have to stop until the bankruptcy is actually filed with the court. If they give you any problems or harass you over the phone, simply hang up the phone. You have no obligation to take abuse from a creditor. If third-party creditors are calling you at home or at work, you can write them a letter telling them to stop. (Keep a copy of the letter for yourself and send the original letter to the creditor by certified mail, return receipt requested. This way you can prove you told them to stop in case any additional efforts are necessary to force them to stop.) The only way to make the creditors stop calling is to file
the bankruptcy so the automatic stay will go into effect. What if I have creditors who are trying to repossess property? The only thing that will stop a secured creditor from
repossessing property, besides up-to-date payments, is filing a
bankruptcy. The credit lobby in Tennessee is so strong, they have
been able to get a law passed which makes it a crime to hinder
secured creditors. That law is as follows: (a) A person who claims ownership of or interest in any property which is the subject of a security interest, security agreement, deed of trust, mortgage, attachment, judgment or other statutory or equitable lien commits an offense who, with intent to hinder enforcement of that interest or lien, destroys, removes, conceals, encumbers, transfers, or otherwise harms or reduces the value of the property. (b) For purposes of this section:
(c) An offense under this section is a
Class E felony. Under most circumstances, filing a bankruptcy will stop a lawsuit in whatever stage it’s at. If the case has gone to Court and the judgment has been filed with the Register of Deeds, then it may not be wiped out by the bankruptcy. This will have to be determined on a case by case basis. Once a creditor has a judgment, it may proceed to garnish your
bank account or wages, or try to obtain property from you. A
bankruptcy will stop this.
Filing the bankruptcy will stop the garnishment. Also, there are
ways to stop a garnishment short of filing bankruptcy. We can
discuss methods to end the garnishment where you pay out a certain
amount set by the court which ordered the garnishment. (This is
called a “slow pay” motion.) The amount is based upon what the
court believes is fair after you provide the court with your income
and expenses. We can discuss this process with you, but we will not
be representing you in state court. I have had a judgment taken against me. What should I do? You need to make our office aware of any lawsuit in which you
were involved, so that we can discuss your options with you, both
bankruptcy and nonbankruptcy. If a judgment has been taken against
you and you have not filed certain papers to protect your property,
the sheriff may come and pick up some of your property or your wages
or bank account may be garnished. What if I can't reach the lawyer by telephone when I call? A problem with a busy law office is not being able
to get in touch with your attorney when you want to. Your lawyer is
usually unavailable because of being in court or traveling to and
from Court in Nashville, being in conference with another client,
being on the phone, writing motions and briefs, doing research,
reviewing and organizing and planning cases, and generally working
on client business. Leave a message on voice mail and your call
will be returned within 24 hours. If you are dissatisfied or feel
your needs are not being met, you are invited and encouraged at any
time to make an appointment to come in and see your lawyer in
person.
A lawyer, and every member of the lawyer's office, are under an
ethical obligation to keep all of your information confidential. No
one from the lawyer's office is allowed to discuss secret or
confidential information about you, about your bankruptcy case or
about your financial situation outside the office. Please be
assured that all members of this office have been trained in keeping
information confidential. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy involving only unsecured debt will cost a minimum fee of $500.00 and the $209.00 filing fee required by the Bankruptcy Court. Once you pay a deposit of $409.00, your bankruptcy will be filed. The rest of the fee is then paid at $100.00 per month. Requests for Reaffirmation Agreements, Motions to Avoid Liens, Motions to Redeem, and other additional services involve additional fees. Your initial interview is at no cost to you. At the initial interview, the attorney will meet with you to review your financial situation, discuss your bankruptcy and nonbankruptcy options, and review the information you provided in the Bankruptcy Questionnaire. The attorney's fee covers:
WHAT A CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY COSTS The base fee for a Chapter 13 is $1,700.00. The filing fee is $194.00. No money is required up front for a Chapter 13, because the attorney fee and filing fee is paid through the Chapter 13 Plan. The attorney's fee covers:
If there are no complications in your bankruptcy, the minimum fee will be what you can expect to pay. But it will be necessary to charge you additionally if we have to do extra work on your case, for example, if we have to gather the information necessary to prepare your Petition because you haven't provided us with complete information on your bankruptcy worksheets. You can save both time and your money by providing us with complete and truthful information on your bankruptcy worksheets and having it completely finished before you arrive for your initial interview. Other situations where you may be charged additional fees and costs are listed below. These are just some of the situations which may occur in a bankruptcy case. The majority of bankruptcy cases run smoothly from start to finish. But each and every bankruptcy case is different and unique, and predicting unusual circumstances which may arise in your case is not always possible. Adding Creditors. You can have any number of creditors on your Petition for the same basic fee. If, however, you have to add creditors after your Petition is filed with the Court, there will be an additional fee that must be paid up front. We recommend you obtain your credit report because it may list debts that you have forgotten and it may contain information to help you complete your Bankruptcy Questionnaire. Protecting Property or Wages. Because some creditors do not know bankruptcy law, it may be necessary for us to take additional action in order to protect or recover your property or wages. This will involve additional attorney fees and costs. Reaffirmation Agreements. Requesting, reviewing and handling Reaffirmation Agreements involve an additional charge of $25.00 each if the Creditor prepares the Reaffirmation Agreement (which is usually how it is done). Reaffirmation Agreements are not necessary in a Chapter 13. Redemption of Property. If you wish to redeem property, there is an extra charge for negotiating the fair market value on that piece of property, the additional paperwork required, and possibly a court hearing. Redemption is not an issue in a Chapter 13. Recovering Wages. It may be necessary for our office to write letters to recover garnishments which were paid out after the bankruptcy was filed. If you are military, it may be necessary to recover allotments that were paid after the bankruptcy was filed. It may even be necessary to have a court hearing about the matter if a creditor refuses to cooperate. Since there are usually three parties involved--the creditor, your employer and whatever court may be ordering the garnishment--you can save money and time by completely investigating the situation yourself, getting the dates and amounts, finding out where the money has ended up, and bringing the results of your investigation to our office so we can take the necessary action to recover your money. Motions, Objections and Adversary Proceedings. It may be necessary for your attorney to defend motions, objections and adversary proceedings filed by your creditors. It may be necessary for your attorney to file motions, objections or adversary cases when one of your creditors takes an action against you or your property which they were not allowed to do under the law and we have to force them to do what's right. This will involve additional attorneys fees & costs. Attending and Rescheduling the Meeting of Creditors. The basic fee includes your attorney's attendance at one Meeting of Creditors. If your attorney has to attend more than one Meeting of Creditors, you will be charged for those additional appearances. Also, if you reschedule your Meeting of Creditors, additional notices must be prepared and all your creditors must be notified of the new date. You will be charged 75 cents for each creditor notified by this office. In most cases, you will be consulted before additional fees
are incurred. Sometimes you will be billed and sometimes you will
be required to bring in a deposit before the work is
begun. These matters will be decided on a situation-by-situation
basis depending on the type of work involved or anticipated. HOW YOUR LAWYER'S OFFICE CAN HELP YOU...AND HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUR LAWYER...OTHER IMPORTANT MATTERS Do not withhold information about property, debts or transfers of property or money. Do not try to cover up situations which you may not feel completely comfortable about. You must give us complete and truthful information about your financial situation. Very few people have enough knowledge and experience to trick the Bankruptcy Court and it's usually not necessary anyway. Do not transfer any of your property on the eve of filing bankruptcy without speaking to your lawyer first. Don't give any gifts to relatives or friends in an attempt to hide or lessen the amount of property you own. The Trustee is very experienced in uncovering these types of transactions and it's usually not necessary anyway. As much as possible, it is important that you understand the process and your options. If you do not understand something, please ask questions. After retaining us for the purpose of filing your bankruptcy, if
you speak to your creditors, you may give them the attorney’s name
and address. Do not sign anything from a creditor without bringing
it to our office first. We look forward to working with you on your case, and, if you have any questions during this process or desire any information whatsoever, please feel free to call or make an appointment to come in. |
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