Questions for attorney selection????

[MarieT]

Okay so I have met with three attorneys now and talked to a couple more on the phone. I really screwed up because I was so freaked out by a particularly nasty collector that I paid a $400 down payment to the first attorney I met with and have since realized he would be my last choice after meeting the others. I will give up the $400 though rather than try to do a BK with an attorney I do not have a good gut feeling about. I will still ask for my money back but who knows if I will get it.

However, my question is...the attorney I like the best told me that we can have a $5,000 exemption for each car. He said we can't add them together for $10,000 total which is bad because one car is paid off and one financed so would be good if we could add together since the total equity in both cars is about $10,000.

So then the next attorney I met with told me that no, you absolutely cannot add the car exemptions together...only allowed $5,000 per car. I am not as inclined to work with him as I think with some preplanning we have a Ch7 case but he was quick to right off say it would be Ch13. He was offering advice on how to reduce our discretionary income....start paying for life insurance, start to pay into a 401K, start making contributions to a charity but I was a bit put off that he doesn't want to try for the Ch7 but at the same time wondering which attorney is right about the car exemption. It seems that should be something so common that any attorney should know.

I am in Colorado as I guess that makes a difference. Also, does Colorado have a "wild card" where you are able to exempt more things? I have spent so much time trying to read all the back posts so sorry if I am asking questions that are here somewhere. I really want to get an attorney hired (for sure) this week as I am so stressed it is making me sick.

[LostNFound]

Well, I'm no expert as I'm just beginning this process myself. In my state, we have a $7K auto exemption and we can double it if we are married and filing together.

I recently had this same discussion with a lawyer last week. He said that our best option would be to combine our almost paid auto with the one that is a lease (we want to purchase it) and then both autos will be financed on one loan. I'm not sure how much I want to believe him, but he seems to think that we can combine them and still use our exemptions on both, but in one loan. That way, we can use BOTH auto exemptions on our autos because they are combined into one loan and the equity is shared between the 2 of them.

[HHM]

No wild card in Colorado, unfortunately.

As for the automobile exemption, I will have to defer to what you were told. Actually, it is an issue that wouldn't come up that often. Not sure if you can split the exemption over multiple vehicles or if it is one exemption, per vehicle, per debtor. The later seems more logical and is how most exemption schemes seem to work.

[MarieT]

My problem is that I was told two completely different things by two different attorneys and if the attorney who I have a good feeling about told me erroneous info that will definitely effect how I feel about him. Does that make sense?

[HHM]

In your post above, you made it sound like they told you the same thing?

In both cases, based on your post, they both told you you can take a $10K exemption and it is $5K per person, per vehicle.

[LostNFound]

Maybe it's just some communication issues between you and the lawyer? Ask again to confirm it. That's a pretty standard question and I'm sure he is aware of....

[BCA2009]

In your post above, you made it sound like they told you the same thing?

In both cases, based on your post, they both told you you can take a $10K exemption and it is $5K per person, per vehicle.

HHM, after re-reading the OP's post, I think the OP meant the 2nd attorney said they could be added and the third said they couldn't. I think it was a typo on the second.

In Florida you can add them together (thats' what my lawyer said, anyway). But it is a whopping $1000 per person exemption. For some dumb reason, I bought both of our cars in my name only. So we only got to use one exemption. According my attorney, my wife's name would have had to be on the title to use her exemption. Oh well!

[MarieT]

Sorry...I did not say that very well initially. One attorney said you have $5000 exemption per car but can add exemptions together for $10,000 and so if you have $10,000 equity in one and no equity in the other one you can keep both cars. Other attorney I really liked had said only $5000 per car so in that case would have to buy back $5,000 on the car with equity. I did talk to attorney I like again and it is per car so I have much better understanding. He took the time to talk to me in-depth on the phone and my gut says he's the guy. Thanks HHM!

[BCA2009]

Sorry...I did not say that very well initially. One attorney said you have $5000 exemption per car but can add exemptions together for $10,000 and so if you have $10,000 equity in one and no equity in the other one you can keep both cars. Other attorney I really liked had said only $5000 per car so in that case would have to buy back $5,000 on the car with equity. I did talk to attorney I like again and it is per car so I have much better understanding. He took the time to talk to me in-depth on the phone and my gut says he's the guy. Thanks HHM!

It's great that you found an attorney you like, but for $5000, I might check with a few more just to make sure (since you have gotten two different answers). You can still come back to this guy, but I would ask around a little more just in case.

[MarieT]