Helter Skelter

[gak555]

First, let me say that this forum has been a great help to me and I appreciate the feedback from the many of the sharp posters.

Amazingly, the more I read, sometimes the more confused I get. Seems like there are a lot of gray areas depending on where you live, the attorney you use, etc.

Are things really that helter skelter out there for those of you that have been or are going through the process ?

[SinkingFast]

Yep! They are.

First attny we went to didn't even look at Median income or run the Means Test. He just took pay stubs, and worked off net income from there. Some places he balked at our expenses. I'm sorry if we pay, on average $250/mo for auto insurance. We had 4 cars. 3 are old beaters. Carry liability coverage only on 2 and full coverage on 2. He said we paid too much for auto insurance. The highest he'd ever seen, in fact. Well that's what you get with 3 teenage drivers on your coverage. More whack here and whack there. Until he arrived at what he thought would be a good Ch 13 payment plan.

One tried to slick talk us into a 13 but relented and wrote Ch 7 on the corner of our info sheet. We found out later from other attnys that guy would indeed slip us in as a 13 and include the excess fee in our plan payments.

Then there's the varying opinions among attny about what's acceptable and what isn't. One attny cut our grocery budget down to $700/mo for a family of 6, with 3 people on special diets. And that's with a Schedules allowable of nearly $1300/mo where we live.

Some of this, I think, is the relationship the attny has with the Trustees and the Judges. You get with a good attny that's well liked and respected and your BK will smoothly. You hire the attny that everyone sees and runs in the other direction, and things may not go so well for you. So personal interrelationships factor in there as well.

BK is a small knit community. Everyone knows everyone else. And the Laws changing caused the pool to shrink because so many attnys just quit. Didn't want to change with the Laws and saw this as a perfect opportunity to get out.

It's like the movies Psycho, and One Hour Photo, and Amittyville Horror, and the Exorcist all rolled into one.

[aa06a47]

First, let me say that this forum has been a great help to me and I appreciate the feedback from the many of the sharp posters.

Amazingly, the more I read, sometimes the more confused I get. Seems like there are a lot of gray areas depending on where you live, the attorney you use, etc.

Are things really that helter skelter out there for those of you that have been or are going through the process ?

Just as no two people are alike, I think no two trustees, bk lawyers, judges, or cases are alike. BK exemptions are different in each state, average car payments are different in each county.

Don't get flustrated, it isn't really helter skelter if you find a good attorney in the BK field. You just have to find one that is familiar with the local rules and golfs with the trustee on the weekend!! LOL!!

[bkadv]

I've found some of these insiders only ***inuendos and such to be just amazing also. But from observation over a seven month period I believe it to be truthful. Astounding that so many different sets of rules can be allowable through our judicial system.