A little help here . . . .

[tightgrip]

We went to our very first consultation on January 25th and we got all our required documents and final payment sent in on Febuary 16. We have been waiting to hear back from the office and they would just tell us that they would get ahold of us once the petition was filled out which was about 3 to 4 weeks. We still hadn't heard anything so I decided to call last week and they told us that they had a deadline to complete our petition for March 18 . . . . yesterday we still had not heard back from them so we called to check up once again and the para-legal said she would have it finished on the 19th and emailed to us . . . well friday (today) rolls around it was 4:00pm and still nothing no calls no emails . . . so we called once again and she tells my husband that we did not pass the means and that she will call monday to go over all of our expenses and make sure she has everything. I just feel weird about this? How did everyone elses process go? When we went in to our consult the attorney told us we would most likely qualify for a 7, but since then we had no idea what we were filling for and now a paralegal is doing our petition. Is that normal that you hire an attorney and the paralegal does the petition? We are very new to all this and have no idea how the process works but they are not meeting their deadlines and it seems like we are getting the throw around? We paid 2200 already and then we pay the remaining 300 at the time of filing . . . could this get any more stressfull!!!

[momofthree]

For us, the way it worked was once we retained the attorney, we scheduled our next face-to-face appt for his next available opening. We wanted to get the ball rolling ASAP, but even then his first available opening wasn't for 3 more weeks.

So, that appointment rolled around, we spent 1 hour with the paralegal while she went over all of the info we submitted and verified all the info AS she typed it into the computer. I was a bit annoyed because I expected her to already have it entered by the time we got there, but whatever. Then, we spent the next hour with the attorney, while he went over all the paperwork with us, asked us questions, tweaked numbers here and there, and basically went over our plan with us (we're a 13). Then he printed the petition on the spot, sent it home with us to read it over carefully and sign and return the next day.

We had a bit of a snafu in that we received our tax refund right before we were planning to file, so we had a few days that we had to spend it down and still file by the end of the month, so he actually waited a week after receiving the signed docs back from us before he filed them, but realistically he could have filed them the same day that we turned them in if it weren't for the tax refund issue.

I'm not sure how long it would have taken if we hadn't made an appt immediately and had just left it up to them to get around to it when they found a chance. When we showed up for our pre-scheduled appt it hadn't even been started yet, but it was 100% completed (just had to read & sign) by the time we left the office 2 hours later.

[tightgrip]

I was thinking that we would be a 7 with all of our debt but now the paralegal said we don't qualify for the 7 and may be pushed into a 13. How exactly does the 13 work? Do you payback everything or what? I am confused? I am just kind of in shock that our lawyer kinda prepared us for a 7 and I studied up on it all I could now we may be in a 13 which I just don't understand how that works? Good Luck to you in your 13 . . . I am a mom of three myself and I am ready to move on with life and start our new future with no money worries!!

[momofthree]

Honestly, I would make an appt with the attorney himself to go over the paperwork and figure out what's pushing you into a 13 and if there's anything you can do to qualify for a 7. IMO, paralegals are more of a glorified data entry person--don't get me wrong--some of them are quite knowledgeable, but meeting with the attorney is your best bet....

[Depressed]

Have you done the means test yourself? You can do it at Legalconsumer.com.

Under a CH13 the payback can be as low as 0%. I only have unsecured debt, no back taxes, current on the car and house. Was told I could be forced into a 13 just to pay off my car over the 60 months (plus the extra $1750 in attorney fees!). Funny thing is I only have about a years worth of payments on the vehicle.