Choosing a Bankruptcy Attorney
Introduction - Bankruptcy Attorneys
Bankruptcy filing is one of those things that people do not
appreciate until they need it. And when they do need to file
bankruptcy it can be an absolute life saver. When you do decide to
file bankruptcy, should you use a
bankruptcy attorney or should you do it yourself or should you
have a full-service bankruptcy preparer do it for you? Personal bankruptcy
attorneys are an option but not the only one.
Of course hiring a qualified bankruptcy attorney a8 or lawyer makes a lot of sense
except that they are very expensive and are often not worth the
extra cost. The main reason is that bankruptcy is an administrative
process and not an adversarial process, so it is mostly book
keeping. This means that if you have the bankruptcy forms prepared
by a full-service company like ours, you do not need to
hire an attorney.
Filing
Personal bankruptcy refers to a chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy
where the debtor is a natural person and not a corporation or
business entity. If you own a business and need to file a business
bankruptcy such as chapter 11, then it is wise to
hire a bankruptcy attorney.
You can file personal bankruptcy as an individual
or jointly as husband and wife.
Filing Personal bankruptcy is also
characterized by the fact that the debts being filed against are
consumer debts such as credit cards, personal loans, medical bills
etcetera. When the debts are largely of a business nature then it is
usually not characterized as personal bankruptcy.
These kinds of debts do not require a bankruptcy attorney.
When filing a personal bankruptcy with or without a
bankruptcy attorney, you file a bankruptcy petition along
with a series of schedules numbering from A to J and various
required bankruptcy information statements. Under the
new bankruptcy law enacted in
2005, you also need to pass a bankruptcy means test.
Forms Needed For Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy with or Without an
Attorney
Here is a list of bankruptcy forms required for filing chapter 7
bankruptcy:
- Voluntary Petition
- Summary of Schedules
- Schedule A - Real Property
- Schedule B - Personal Property
- Schedule C - Property Claimed As Exempt
- Schedule D - Creditors Holding Secured Claims
- Schedule E - Creditors Holding Unsecured Priority Claims
- Schedule F - Creditors Holding Unsecured Nonpriority Claims
- Schedule G - Executory Contracts and Unexpired Leases
- Schedule H - Codebtors
- Schedule I - Current Income of Individual Debtor(s)
- Schedule J- Current Expenditures of Individual Debtor(s)
- Declaration Concerning Debtor's Schedules
- Statement of Financial Affairs
- Means Test Calculations and Documents
- Chapter 7 Individual Debtor's Statement of Intention
- Statement of Social Security Number
- Creditor Mailing Matrix
- Creditor List Formatted for Diskette
- Court Fee Waiver
Filing for Bankruptcy and The Means Test
The means test is required when
filing personal bankruptcy filing where the
debtor is a natural person. It is intended to determine if you
qualify under the BAPCPA act which supposedly tries to prevent
abusive bankruptcy filing. The new bankruptcy law now lays heavy
burdens on
all bankruptcy attorneys and not just to the debtor.
These new
requirements place by the law on bankruptcy lawyers has caused many
of them to greatly increase their bankruptcy attorney fees and in some cases, turn
away business. In the news, some Houston bankruptcy attorneys have
banked together to complain about the new burdens imposed on
bankruptcy attorneys.
This is the case with all bankruptcy attorneys whether it be a
Houston bankruptcy attorney, Michigan bankruptcy attorney, Dallas
bankruptcy attorney or Chicago bankruptcy attorney or any bankruptcy
attorney anywhere. That are all dealing with this perplexing
bankruptcy question, how to keep consumer bankruptcy attorney fees
down.
The truth though is the filing under new
bankruptcy
law favors the credit card companies and was written by them. In any
case, if you pass the personal bankruptcy means test then you
qualify to have your debts discharged. This is of significance in
chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. There is the equivalent of a means test
for chapter 13 in so much as the that the calculations are very
similar. However it is not called a bankruptcy means test for
chapter 13 bankruptcies.
Click here for PRICING and our special online
bankruptcy discount
Filing Personal Bankruptcy Without a Bankruptcy Attorney
Preparing
for filing the personal bankruptcy forms needed for
filing a chapter
7 bankruptcy is a daunting task. Before you begin to panic, that is
our bad news, not yours. For one, the man-hours needed to put
together the 6 page
personal bankruptcy means test document can be
compared to that need to prepare two or three
complete personal
bankruptcies under the old laws.
On top of that, filing bankruptcy under the new bankruptcy law has caused a typical
personal bankruptcy
forms set to balloon from about 23 to 35 pages under the old law to
about 50 to 75 pages under the new
bankruptcy law.
In the past, a lot of people hacked away at their own
personal
bankruptcy filing inch by inch, week after week, until it was done, but
with the new laws, that is a thing of the past. Now you must have
your documents prepared professionally by a full-service company.
Because of the burdens of the new law, many bankruptcy attorney's
have doubled their prices just to make it worth their while. Some of
them have even abandoned bankruptcy filing altogether.
In a long distance conversation the other day, one of
the lowest
priced personal bankruptcy filing attorneys in Austin confirmed that they
had raised their price from $595 to $1595 because of the paperwork.
None of this need bother you because we take all the responsibility
of preparing the paperwork on our selves.
You fill out our 20 minute online questionnaire and we get all of
the mountains of paperwork done so that all you do is sign your name
and file.
"We will prepare all your bankruptcy forms
online so that all you do is sign and file!"
And we back it up with the Crazy Guarantee!
Our word is simply this.
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We will prepare everything you will need
for your chapter 7 bankruptcy so that all you do is sign your name
and file.
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It will include the new Means Test documents with all 75 questions
and calculations completely answered and prepared as required by the
new bankruptcy laws.
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We will do it all in as little as one
day or in just a few hours, if you need to file right away.
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We will accept as many creditors as you
have, at no extra charge.
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If you need to have the court filing fee waived, we will prepare the
fee waiver documents so that you do not have to pay the court fee.
(Please note that we are not guaranteeing that the court will waive
their fee.)
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We will include your spouse if you want
a joint filing and they too can give us as many bills as they have
at no extra charge.
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We will let you make as many changes as you need to the bankruptcy information that you give us at not extra cost.
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We will be there to answer all your
questions and hold your hand.
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We will guarantee court acceptance or
your full money back.
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That is really all there is to it. There
is no hype, no gimmicks and no hidden fees. Most importantly, we do
not sell you some software and ask you to do it yourself.
If you want more information on our
services other than this short summary, then read on, otherwise go
straight to the order page and sign up.
What is The Crazy
Guarantee?
Why is It so radical? Why is there
nothing like it anywhere else?
Click here for
more details on Chapter 7 - You can click here for detailed information
on what we will do for you and to find out exactly what the
crazy guarantee is.
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Click here to
sign up for Chapter 7 - If you have familiarized yourself with this site
and are ready to get started, then click here to sign up.
Click below for chapter 13
Additional Bankruptcy Attorney Resources
If you decide to shop around first then additional reading can be
found as follows. Bridgeport bankruptcy discuses
filing bankruptcy as well as the intricacies of
personal bankruptcy filing and the pros and cons of
filing online bankruptcy in the areas of
chapter 7 bankruptcy. Comparison of
attorney bankruptcies is covered too. This effort hopefully will
end up helping you to get the
best bankruptcy forms possible.
USA bankruptcy software provides
additional reading in the areas of
filing bankruptcy online, as wells what every debtor must know
to file chapter 7 bankruptcy can also be of benefit. It also
helps to fully understand the options available for filing a
personal bankruptcy particularly if you need a
chapter 7 bankruptcy. There are those who in spite of what we
offer still want to examine the
online bankruptcy software option and that too is a beneficial
endeavor. After visiting all of these other resources, return to us
to prepare your
official bankruptcy forms.
DebtorAid.com explores some of these same areas,
namely, using
bankruptcy software for
online bankruptcy
filing. It also compares the role of
bankruptcy
attorneys with that of full-service companies who prepare
bankruptcy forms
for US
personal bankruptcy filing.
State Specific Bankruptcy Attorney Resources
As we mentioned earlier, there are state specific
bankruptcy exemptions that you must be aware of. Since the largest states are
California, Texas and Florida, you will find these bankruptcy exemption sites
useful.
California bankruptcies are marked by their use of two separate bankruptcy
exemption schemes, System 1 and System 2. If you are filing in bankruptcy in
California, do not fail to examine the differences.
Texas bankruptcies filings are know for their robust
Texas
bankruptcy Exemptions. They have the most generous bankruptcy exemptions for
chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. Bankruptcy exemptions are particularly pertinent to
personal bankruptcy filing.
Florida bankruptcy filing is perhaps that largest contributor to bankruptcy
filing in the United States. Florida bankruptcies have good exemptions like
Texas and California bankruptcies. If you live in some of the other large states
then topics such as
bankruptcy in New York, figuring out the rules for personal
bankruptcy filing in Illinois, dealing with
online bankruptcies in Ohio and
Pennsylvania bankruptcy will be of interest.
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