Administrative claims on chapter 7 estate?

[Llelxon]

My attorney racked up and additional $1800+ over his initial fee due to the UST getting involved. He feels bad about the whole deal I think because he sent the bill with a statement "he is willing to take less", although it is largely his own fault the UST got involved. Anyway, we said that he was going to talk to the trustee about submitting and administrative claim on the estate versus asking me to pay him, has anyone seen this happen with any success? It just seem like it wouldn't be allowed to me.

[StartingOver08]

What happened? Did he have to fight an AP? Or were there just additional 341 meetings because your attorney was not prepared properly?

administrative claim (or administrative expense claim) – debt incurred by the debtor, with court approval, after the bankruptcy filing including: necessary costs of preserving the estate, wages, salaries, court costs, lawyers' fees, accountants' fees, trustees' expenses, etc.

It appears that administrative claims are typical for business type BK filings, but not so much for a personal Ch 7. Did you have a business BK filing? I am not understanding how another $1800 in charges can be incurred after your filing, unless there was an AP. Did he itemize the bill for you?

[Llelxon]

No not an AP, but we had to amend schedule I & J because we were showing too much DMI. Like others I didn't really understand at first that if you pass the means test you still have to worry about DMI.

Anyway, he had to do a couple letters with the UST and then also we reaffirmed our car and house so there was some work there, but he knew that going in. He documented .2 to .3 hours for every phone call or email I sent (about 15 total) and we met for 45 minutes when the UST filed the presumption of abuse that he had 2 hours tagged to.

In the end it was $700+ for the amending work and the rest was just him figuring more $ for the work we initially discussed. Oh, he said the initial consult was no cost when we called, but in his itemized bill the time for that was in there as well.

His firm does more business than personnel BK's, so that may be why he is trying for the administrative claim.

[AngelinaCatHub]

This lawyer seems a little seedy about all this. I believe the claim against the estate would have to be paid by you anyway (the estate is you). If you were an asset case, he wants a piece of it. Sound like a greedy jerk. I would hold him to his word about the "free consult" as well as the additional charges and padding that was caused by his incompetence. It is too bad he is not a full time bk lawyer as you stated the office does other types of cases. Only my opinion. 'Hub

[StartingOver08]

His method of billing for BK's is NOT the norm.
Most BK attorney's have a contract that is very specific on which items are and are not included. For him to bill "time" is more along the lines of a different type of attorney. He is taking advantage of you. As HUB points out - the BK estate is you and he is looking to milk you for an extra $1800. If it was not disclosed in the employment contract up front with you....then report him to the bar.

[Llelxon]

As HUB points out - the BK estate is you and he is looking to milk you for an extra $1800. If it was not disclosed in the employment contract up front with you....then report him to the bar.

Do I really care if he wants a part of the BK estate though? I had to surrender my tax return, but no matter the claims, I pay the same amount right?

I agree though that if I had found this forum a bit earlier and done some research I wouldn't have hired him. The main reason I did hire this guy was a BK info website (I think) had a recommendation in it of contacting a trustee to see about hiring them to file, since they know the regulations so well. This firm does have a trustee that works at it and my attorney did consult him a couple times.