which is better?

[ejny65]

Hi everyone:

I am trying to pay-off my attorney so I can finally file.
I have $1700 in cash which I kept at home, for emergencies. Thats ALL I have in cash for years in my home.

should I get a money order with this money and pay my attorney?

is this going to be a red flag in my case? am I going to explain this money?

will this consider an income, asset or anything negative in my case?

Should I deposit it in my account, and pay by check?

what is the best (and BK friendly) way of giving this money to my attorney. I need help. thank you in advanced for your advice.

EJ

[FreshLikeADaisy]

I personally don't see any issues with getting a money order for the cash and using it to pay the atty. As far as anyone knows, you borrowed it.

Where you get the $$$ to pay an atty seems to be one of the least questioned expenses in Ch7. Can't imagine why.

[epiphany]

Hi everyone:

I am trying to pay-off my attorney so I can finally file.
I have $1700 in cash which I kept at home, for emergencies. Thats ALL I have in cash for years in my home.

should I get a money order with this money and pay my attorney?

is this going to be a red flag in my case? am I going to explain this money?

will this consider an income, asset or anything negative in my case?

Should I deposit it in my account, and pay by check?

what is the best (and BK friendly) way of giving this money to my attorney. I need help. thank you in advanced for your advice.

EJ

Where did you get the money? It was already income to you, was it not, and would be documented by your pay, etc..assuming you are/were employed.

If you pay your attorney with it, it can't be considered an asset because it will be gone by the time that you file. I am not aware of anyone who ever had to explain how they paid their attorney.

On the other hand, I have heard people say that they had to explain large deposits to their bank accounts and asked what they did with the money....paying the lawyer has been an acceptable answer. However, were I you, I would just get a money order and pay him and avoid the question altogether.

Good luck.

ep

[my4devils]

We used a money order to pay our lawyer- no problems have come up thus far. We wanted to make sure it had cleared our account before our filing date. We had 3k in the bank from our tax return and 2k of it went to lawyer and filing fees. The little left over we were able to exempt. The important thing is to not have any money left in the account that you cannot exempt so the trustee cant take it from you.

[gophermn]

I am not sure what you owe the attny for filing but lets say it's another $1200.00. That leaves you $500 with cash on hand and I know it was asked and stated on my petition how much cash I had at the time of filing.
I highly doubt the Trustee will ask for the $500 but I hear people in here being questioned on their engagement ring which just pisses me off. But its an asset right?

What you do with your $$$ is really up to you. It all depends how long you can go getting phone calls daily from creditors. I will guarantee that once you do file, the burden will be lifted and you will feel better.

If it were me, I would do a money order. This way the checking acct will not show a large deposit and withdrawl within days apart. But I agree with most in here - I was NEVER asked how I paid for my attny. Funny I mention that ~ the Trustee asked me how my wife can pay for the Sunday paper, yet not bat an eye about the $2300 I pad my lawyer. This is a true story - Classic.

[PaKettle]

Won't your attorney accept cash? Mine did.
I'd just pay him with the cash. There's no law against having some cash savings for emergencies, in fact you'd be remiss not to. So use the cash for THIS "emergency" (paying your attorney for bankruptcy). As to the remainder, I'd see if you can exempt it and if not, then spend it on needed necessary items.

[epiphany]

Won't your attorney accept cash? Mine did.
I'd just pay him with the cash. There's no law against having some cash savings for emergencies, in fact you'd be remiss not to. So use the cash for THIS "emergency" (paying your attorney for bankruptcy). As to the remainder, I'd see if you can exempt it and if not, then spend it on needed necessary items.

Well leave it to Pa. Actually, I did pay my attorney his retainer in CASH and he gave me a receipt. Excellent advice.

ep

[Runnin on empty]

Ditto on what Pakettle said. We paid cash. The trustee has to expect that you're going to need to pay a lawyer.