Advice badly needed/in a panic!!!

[keepsmiling]

I bet those other clients have never been on this board
Poor suckers.
I wonder what PERCENT of his clients make it thru to discharge?

[dmc-2008]

And it galls me because mine told me i have "skills" and should do more side jobs. Really cause i work fulltime, have kids and two chronic illnesses that need to be kept in check so that I am able to keep my full time job which hes medical! These lawyers are genius!!!

[dmc-2008]

I'm sorry to vent but thx I needed that!!!

[sheilaE]

Don't be sorry dmc....I completely understand your frustration.

Keepsmiling: I'm beginning to think maybe he does more chapter 7's and that is why our plan is so high..maybe he isn't as experienced in 13's.

[keepsmiling]

And also, is the $6k gross retirement pay or net after taxes? This is baffling to me...I would go buy a new car. If you have three old one's they may not last through 3 or 5 years of a bk.

Tell him this is what you will do if he insists on going forward with this plan.
Often this is good advice anyway.

However... I do want to say this much. You say you have no money to pay an attorney, and that you haven't paid your bills in two years.
You do need to start thinking about ways to cut your living expenses. Your cable bill is very high-- it doesn't look good for someone who is strapped---probably, you can find better uses for that money regardless of which way this goes.

[keepsmiling]

Also... re phones.... are you not supposed to have ANY phone?? according to your attorney, that is?

[sheilaE]

When I told him I didn't want to cancel our cell phones, that it was a safety issue for our daughter who has a night class, he threw up his arms and said-you have to be willing to give things up, that's how you got in this mess. So to answer your question, no phones.

[keepsmiling]

He HAS to go.

[keepsmiling]

You don't have a landline, correct?

[keepsmiling]

According to his logic... say you took his advice... you'd be moving into a rental and.... paying the extra 600 to unsecured? He's a genius.

[keepsmiling]

Ok, just one more thing before I finally go to bed
Wave your arm back and him and say, Hello? Helloooooo.... I am BELOW the median.
It wouldn't be that hard to get you into a 7.
I get that you need the 13.
Just sayin.

[TheBajan]

SheilaE,

I realize you are emotionally connected to the fact that you paid him over 2 years ago and you are realizing your mistake, let it go and move on. Chalk it up to a bad decision, completely forget this guy and start over looking for a new atty. You're atty should be going to bat for you and it sounds like he either doesn't know enough about a 13 to do that, or he is just lazy. Find someone else. Period. We spoke to several atty's and until we talked to the last one (who we hired), we were being told we would either lose everything or we would have to pay $1300 a month for 5 years. Instead, our's is a 3 years plan at under $300 a month and we didn't lose any assets. So, it really does matter which atty you go with. Also, no two atty's are going to tell you the exact same thing. We heard different approaches from everyone we talked to.

I am concerned about one issue that you've mentioned. You haven't been paying your creditors for 2 years and yet you have not managed to save anything in that time frame. That is a concern to me. If you aren't currently paying creditors, and you still can't save anything for unexpected emergencies, then what you are saying is that you have no DMI at all or that you haven't learned to live within your financial parameters even without the debt. If that's the case, BK won't help you.

If, on the other hand, you have been able to create a livable budget and conform to it.... there should be room in it for a little emergency fund. That is absolutely paramount in a chapter 13'ers life. If this step is in place, consider a new attorney an "emergency expense" and start saving for it. Once you have enough for that, go ahead and file. Yes, the clock is ticking but if you have only recently received the summons, there are things you can do (by answering them) to slow down that process.

Again, my biggest concern here is that you are saying you haven't paid any creditors for two years and yet you have no savings. That is an issue you really need to look at before you file.

Best wishes,
The Bajan

[katztoo]

When I told him I didn't want to cancel our cell phones, that it was a safety issue for our daughter who has a night class, he threw up his arms and said-you have to be willing to give things up, that's how you got in this mess. So to answer your question, no phones.

That's crazy! He is suppose to fight for you to get the lowest payment possible. We kept our cells and home phone. Find an attorney that specializes in BK. They will fight for you and be on your side. The consults are free so look around till you find one your comfortable with, you will be hiring them and paying them so they need to get whats best for you. Ours delt with the trustee on a daily basis so he knew what he could do for us. I never thought for one moment that he wasn't on our side.

[dmc-2008]

I love what Bajan wrote! Good advice!

[LadyInTheRed]

I just looked at www.irs.com and the national standard for food for fam of 4 is 765.00! Go to that site and look at all the standards for allowed expenses!!!

That is not an IRS website. For reliabiable tax information go to http://www.irs.gov/

But, for reliable information on national standards for BK purposes, go to: http://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa...anstesting.htm

The information above is correct as to the food standard for a family of 4 and that site very well may have other good and accurate information. But, I just want everyone to understand that it is not an IRS website. I'd be leary of any site who is obviously trying to look like an IRS website, despite its difficult to find "About Us" page.

IRS.com About Us

IRS.com is in no way associated with or endorsed by the United States Department of Treasury or the Internal Revenue Service. It is a non-governmental, privately owned website, operated by Banks.com, Inc. This site was developed with the ordinary citizen in mind and a focus on the most common tax related issues they face. Our goal is to try to minimize some of the confusion inherent in tax matters. IRS.com was designed to help taxpayers quickly find helpful, easy-to-understand tax information, valuable tax products and special offers, as well as tax-related services with the mission to be the most user friendly tax related website possible. Again, we strive to help citizens tackle their most common tax issues. For help with less common tax topics or for more in depth information on tax topics we do cover, we encourage you to visit IRS.gov.

Banks.com is a leading financial services portal containing a unique breadth and depth of products and services. Our mission is to bring users and subscribers the most relevant financial information on the web. Banks.com provides access to thousands of pages of current financial content, including: articles, stock quotes, blogs and much more. In addition, Banks.com provides free tools to assist visitors with financial decision-making, including stock tracking and financial calculators. Our site contains information and products on a variety of topics such as Banking, Stocks & Bonds, Taxes, Mortgages, Personal Finance, Credit Cards, Insurance and Retirement Planning.

[emphasis added]

http://www.irs.com/pages/irscom-about-us

Better to go to the source than to a commerical site.