Motion to Incur Debt

[ntyowzer]

I am attempting to file a motion to incur debt with my bankruptcy court. I have found a very good deal on a home, my children need more space (5 children, 2 bedrooms currently), and the owners are willing to do owner financing. I would like to do this process myself. My first try it looks like I had deficiencies. I did not include negative notice language and I also need to notify everyone on the court matrix.

My questions are...

What is the format for the motion to go out to the court matrix? What exactly is included in this motion? I have found the proper negative notice language to include, but am curious if anyone else knows of an example motion for something like this. I do not want to send out a bunch of certified letters to only find out I did it all wrong.

Any guidance on how I can do this myself and save $600 in attorney fee's would be greatly appreciated.

[tigergem]

Be advised: I am not an attorney nor do I play one on tv, this is not sound legal advice, and I make no warranty as to the accuracy of this information or it's suitability for your purposes.

[Flamingo]

Did you file CHapter 13 pro se or are you represented by an attorney? If you have counsel you need to go through your attorney to do this as he/she will need to review the situation to see if you could even qualify to file the motion financially. Did you know that motions to the BK court are filed by the attorney and the trustee together? The trustee would not accept anything from you if you have counsel. You state you are trying to save attorneys fees to do this.

[ntyowzer]

Could you please clarify this? I originally filed through an attorney. When I called my attorney concerning this situation, his office sent me a generic letter stating what I needed to send to the trustee if I wanted to do it myself and mentioned that they would do it for $600. I sent the trustee the items the attorney mentioned (new Schedule I and J, etc.) and you are right, they would not accept it. I was then told to file a motion through the court. I did so. My motion was actually sent to the trustee and it shows on 13network.com that the trustee reviewed it with no objection. Shortly after I learned of my deficiency from the court which I think I can fix fairly easily (assuming that is all that is wrong). My impression from the case manager at the court is that my motion would have a chance if I correct the deficiency and I receive no objections.

Soooo... I'm glad you brought this up. I am forced to pay my attorney $600 to do this because I used him to originally file? This is not something I can do myself?

[tigergem]

That is kind of the surprising impression I got from your first post.

You should call your case manager at the bankruptcy court just to clarify that it is absolutely ok to file the motion pro se, since you went in represented by an attorney. That is why I said "Going forward, if you find it is ok to file this pro se,..."

But it sounds like your attorney already gave you at least partial instructions to do it yourself. (Or just enough rope to hang yourself, as the case may be.) Call the clerk anyway and ask that question anyway, just to be sure. And also ask if you are required to submit a proposed order, if they give you the green light.

[ntyowzer]

So I am about to give in and use an attorney for this process as I would really like to get this done right. I found out today that my motion has been set for hearing. Any ideas as to why it would be set for hearing with the deficiencies I already noted? Is it set for hearing just to be denied?

[NoTomatoCan]

Did you provide the trustee and court a proposed order?

For all of our motions so far our attorney always had to submit a proposed order and in most cases would work with the trustee to get them to stipulate to the motion to avoid a hearing.

Otherwise, the hearing is probably pretty standard. It wouldn't be simply so you would be denied.

[ntyowzer]

I did not send in a proposed order with it. If I had to do it over I would, and I think I know what else to do. But I didn't and now I have a hearing. With all I've done wrong, I'm curious why I didn't get a straight up denial...

To recap my situation:

I sent in a motion without negative notice language and without notifying everyone on the court matrix. I also did not have a certificate of service or send in a proposed order. The trustee reviewed the motion with no objection. The judge has set a hearing date.

I'm just not sure if I should go through my attorney to get this done right or wait it out until the hearing...

[tigergem]

Well if it is denied, you can still redo it correctly, so long as you know what needs to be done.

[woeisme]

that totally sucks that your attorney is making you pay $600, we had to do this to get a new vehicle, and the attorney filed it for no fee, was part of the $3000 we paid her to start with. I thought that's why 13's cost so much more than 7's, because the attorney is supposed to do the necessary paperwork for the life of the plan, not so they can file then charge every time something happens!

[newbie2]

that totally sucks that your attorney is making you pay $600, we had to do this to get a new vehicle, and the attorney filed it for no fee, was part of the $3000 we paid her to start with. I thought that's why 13's cost so much more than 7's, because the attorney is supposed to do the necessary paperwork for the life of the plan, not so they can file then charge every time something happens!

Each attorneys contract is different. Some may charge a lower fee, but it is less inclusive of duties they will perform. Others charge higher fee that will cover some things post confirmation.

[keepinitreal]

When I called my attorney concerning this situation, his office sent me a generic letter stating what I needed to send to the trustee if I wanted to do it myself and mentioned that they would do it for $600.

Could your attorney add the $600 fee to your chapter 13 so that you wouldn't need to pay him additional money outside of your plan? I think I've heard of attorneys doing that.