How much protection do you get for utilities if you have only retained an attorney?

[lookin4info]

We retained an attorney this week for a Chapter 13. It is going to take a couple of months before we can get all the money together, and pay the court fees, appraiser for the house, etc. Our atty said that we can give his number, or his paralegals number actually, if anyone calls before we get filed.

My issue is the utilities, they are very high and it is a struggle to pay them. Will they be satisfied with just knowing that we are in the process of filing BK, or will they shut 'em off!

I'm assuming that if I don't pay the car payment, buy here, pay here guy will come and get it. We need a dependable car, but want to try to get the payments down from $375/mo, we don't qualify for a cram down. Are there other options for us? Would we be in some kind of violation if we went an bought a another car in a couple of days and then just gave this one back before we file. We would definitly keep and pay for the newer one?

I have a lot of questions after our first meeting and hate to bombard the atty with all of them lol! I'm new to the forum, so hope I have this in the right place. Thanks for you input!

[SMinGA]

If you get too far behind, the utilities can and will turn off your services. If you have unusual circumstances (someone relying on power to keep medical machines going, for example) you can notify them and they may need to give you additional time.

You are posting in the ch. 13 area, so I assume you are intending to file ch. 13. If that is certain - then stop paying credit cards and catch up the utilities. You must have disposable income, if not your plan is going to fail. Use that DMI for now to keep your utilities on. It won't be preferential payment because you're paying for service as you go. Its not a typical credit/debt situation.