How long did it take your lawyer?

[MEA2]

How long did it take your lawyer to file your case?

We submitted documents Nov 3rd
Talked to him today(he is also a trustee and is very busy,working through this holiday)he was very nice said our documents look complete etc)I told him dh is very stressed over this(we are just over the median in our state)He said don't worry,have a nice Thanksgiving....I said "does this mean our 341 will be in December?"He said no most likely January.Does that timeline sound reasonable to you guys?

Thanks

[HHM]

If he hasn't filed yet, then yeah, your 341 will most likely be in early Jan. I am a little surprised it has taken this long. Even for the high volume BK shops, it usually takes no more than two weeks to have paper work completed. But, if your not facing any immediate crisis (i.e. foreclosure, lawsuit, etc) I wouldn't worry about it.

[SinkingFast]

Normally, it takes our attny's office 10 business days to prep a BK filing. If there's a need, they can rush to file.

In our case, they had to research proper application of out of State Exemptions, so it took about a month to prep our petition. Then we needed to move. Then the attny wanted us to establish expenses for the new place.

We were just like you. Fretting when we would file. About 1x-2x a month, I'd email the paralegal and ask when we were going to file. The paralegal said the same thing as HHM.

If you aren't being sued, or have a Foreclosure pending, or some other legal issue that you need to stop, the longer you wait, the better. God forbid, but it has happened. You might have some sort of emergency medical expense pop up that you'll need to include in your BK. You just never know.

I know you feel like you're living in limbo, but truthfully, your attny is right.

Patience is the BK Filer's friend.

[niteflytes]

I paid my lawyer in full and turned in paperwork the first week of Aug. On Sept 28th I turned in more PW that was requested. Just last week I found out they "never received" the extra PW I turned in on the 28th even tho I hand delivered it. I had to take it all in again. Finally, am going to file on the 28th of this month.

In my case, patience was not my friend. I assumed they had everything and just waited. I called a few times asking for the status of my case but never got any return calls. It took getting irritated and calling several times a day several days in a row to get them to even tell me that PW was missing.

My advice, be patient with the process but be persistent about keeping informed of the status of your case.

niteflytes

[MEA2]

Normally, it takes our attny's office 10 business days to prep a BK filing. If there's a need, they can rush to file.

In our case, they had to research proper application of out of State Exemptions, so it took about a month to prep our petition. Then we needed to move. Then the attny wanted us to establish expenses for the new place.

We were just like you. Fretting when we would file. About 1x-2x a month, I'd email the paralegal and ask when we were going to file. The paralegal said the same thing as HHM.

If you aren't being sued, or have a Foreclosure pending, or some other legal issue that you need to stop, the longer you wait, the better. God forbid, but it has happened. You might have some sort of emergency medical expense pop up that you'll need to include in your BK. You just never know.

I know you feel like you're living in limbo, but truthfully, your attny is right.

Patience is the BK Filer's friend.

SF we aren't being sued-yet, can that happen?We've told the CC companies,2 of them,that we are filing .So we should just take a deep breath and try to get through the holidays?I thought the wait would be a bad thing,I thought they'd need more statements,records etc but you guys are the experts and If you say to be patient I will.
Thanks!

[SinkingFast]

We hired our attny in March and did not file until Sept.

I thought we would file within a month or so, Mea, so I told Creditors we were filing, gave them the attny's name and phone number. Phone calls really dropped off. Then a few months later, one gal from I can't remember which CC said, "That's what you said 3 months ago! You need to tell your attny to get his butt moving!" in a very snide tone of voice.

We went 10 months of no CC payments. Only 3 of our accts had been turned over to collections and it looked like only 1 was making a move toward something more substantial.

I know how you feel, Nite, about having to turn in new docs. We turned in the main bunch in March. Added more later. And more later. And turned in final pay stubs and bank statement when we signed and filed. It seems like a never ending paper mill.

Fortunately for us, none of our paperwork ever was "misplaced". I'm betting that's what happened to your papers, Nite. Got stuck in the wrong file or stack and sometime down the road, they'll turn up.

If anything does happen, Mea, be sure to contact your attny ASAP. If you get any threatening letters that is. Phone calls may be a warning of something more substantial to come, but the real threats are always written.

[lrprn]

We hired our attny in March and did not file until Sept.

Our experience was much like SinkingFast's. We retained our attorney in January and didn't file for Ch 13 until June. We told creditors starting in February as they called that we were filing. Calls dropped way off, then some started up again in May. We either didn't answer the phone or just kept referring them to our lawyer. By the time we filed in June, only three of our many non-secured creditors had moved us over to collections and no one was threatening court yet. However, just in case we did get a summons, we were ready to file at a minute's notice if necessary. Keeping up with check stubs and latest debt amounts was a hassle, but by the time we filed, we had taken care of what we could to prepare for a long, five-year Ch 13 haul - repaired our cars, caught up on secured loans, repaired the house, etc.

If it's not an emergency to file to save a house or other big asset, then preparing to file can enable a smoother start once your Ch 7 is over. Good luck - please keep us posted on how things are going for you.

[Faith]

We hired our attorney in mid-May. We filed in late July. Overall, we had a good experience with our attorney.

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

i started making down payments to my lawyer end of may, my plan was to file in august/september, but i got "lucky," and was able to pay my lawyer off end of july. if you have everything he needs and he is right on the ball, it took mine the same day i had all his money to file the same day, my 341 meeting was scheduled within a couple of weeks.

good luck, catchmeifyoucan