Fully retained?

[Liaah]

Ok, this has been bugging me for awhile now, I am going to ask here.

Recently, we retained our attorney and when the creditors called we told them that we plan on filing chap 7, gave his name, number, address... and a couple have said, "So you have FULLY retained him?" What exactly does FULLY retain him mean? They stressed FULLY several times.

I didn't think you could only partially retain an attorney. But what do I know? We gave him what he asked to be retained. We haven't paid him off completely but he is now representing us. So I have been saying, Yes he is fully retained. At least I think he is?

Just something that had me perplexed. Thanks!

[lrprn]

Recently, we retained our attorney and when the creditors called we told them that we plan on filing chap 7, gave his name, number, address... and a couple have said, "So you have FULLY retained him?" What exactly does FULLY retain him mean? They stressed FULLY several times.

Your creditors are probably trying to find out if you've paid the lawyer his/her entire fee yet.

Some debtors pay a small amount to a bk lawyer to "start" the bk process even though they have no intention of filing any time soon or ever. It's a stall tactic and creditors are catching on to it. Since serious filers tend to pay their lawyer's pre-filing fee as quickly as possible, your creditors are likely trying to feel out if you are serious about filing or not.

Frankly whether you pay the lawyer $100 or $2000, once the lawyer says he/she is representing you, they are. That's all your creditors need to know.

[Liaah]

Oh, OK. Thanks!

Just had me a little confused. I didn't want to lie to them, but I guess I wasn't quite sure what they were getting at.

[Granny]

I think this would have been one of those times I would have answered the creditor something like this:

"No he is only partially retained, not fully, it's gonna be a luck of the draw if you contact him, maybe he will say he is representing me or maybe he won't, it depends which hour it is in the rotation sequence; retained or not."

Sorry, it just popped into my head when reading the original question.