Attorney fees

[Starbrite57]

I had to pay my attorney $4,500 upfront to file chapter 13. Why does it show they billed my bankruptcy case another $3,000 which I have since paid off.

[shipo]

That's how it works with a Chapter 13; you pay the additional downstroke, if the attorney needs to do anything else during the bankruptcy, it comes out of the money you pay to the Trustee.

[despritfreya]

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, there would be no way for anyone on the forum to answer your question. You should pull your copy of the Fee Agreement you signed and review what was being charged. Was it a fixed fee? Was it on an hourly basis? Was it a combination of the two?

You can also review the Chapter 13 Plan, the Order Confirming the Plan and any amended/modified Plans and Orders approving them that may have been filed.

Let us know what you find.

Des.

[flashoflight]

I had lots of *worthwhile* extra work in my 13. My total bill was $15k. It can add up. The courts keep a lid on the fees to keep them reasonable for your area. Despite that, $7.5k sounds very high unless it included extra work not included with the no look fee.

[justbroke]

In my district the presumptively reasonable Chapter 13 fee is $4,500 with no extras. Extras would be mortgage mediation ($1,500-$2,500 is considered reasonable), and our court allows a modest monitoring fee of $50/month. Just using the presumptively reasonable fee of $4,500 plus the monthly monitoring in a 60-month Chapter 13 (60 x $50) you can easily see the $3,000 on top of the $4,500.

I'm thinking your district is similar to mine. A $4,500 so-called "no look" fee, plus the $50/month monitoring fee paid/billed monthly.

But, as despritfreya writes, you'll have to see what it says in your paperwork.

[Barbisi]

In our case , I think we were fortunate that my husband had Hyatt Legal through work and that is what we used to pay $1500 upfront for lawyer fees and nothing else during our BK13.
When we had to battle over the 100% trustee attempted increase in 2020, our attorney was somehow able to collect money from them even though my husband had been laid off in 2019 and obtained a much better job immediately after with a different company at a much higher salary (hence the trustee plan modification to significantly raise our payment the following year.)
The second company used another legal plan, but it worked out anyway and our attorney got paid from Hyatt Legal. (The trustee would not allow any lawyer fees to be taken out of the modified, increased payment, per the attorney himself. (?)
In retrospect, I believe our lawyer did an excellent job, didn't overcharge us and treated us fairly.

[Zombie13]

LOL Yeah you say that now Barbisi LOL!!! (Our attorney treated us... etc. heh). <I am her husband btw>.
The attorney mentioned the fees for the modifications, and his plan to re-submit to Hyatt. Yes, he did a great job, so thank you. Glad it's over with.

[Jeffster]

If you have a good BK attorney…knowledgeable, responsive, PATIENT, proactive…it is money well spent. I paid $1500 up front (IIRC), and $4000 was billed through the CH 13 process. I would have paid TWICE as much for the awesome, caring service I got.

[Barbisi]

Right you are Jeffster !
Even though I butted heads with the attorney often (Our personalities clashed mightily), he did a pretty remarkable job and as Zombie13 said, we are glad it is over with!