Getting the bloodsucking lawyer...

[leftyf]

Any advantage to getting my lawyer early before filing? I can't file for at least 4 months, but my wife wants to retain an attorney now. I think it could help in getting advice now that may prevent problems later...or it may just create more billable hours between now and my filing. Any thoughts? I'll probably be filing 13, but I'm going to try for a 7.
Thanks,
Lefty

[SinkingFast]

We retained our attny in March and didn't file until Sept. Thankfully, as things arose in between time, our attny didn't charge any extra.

Most stuff was handled via email. Not many phone calls at all. And we didn't really contact the attny's office all that much. The paralegals pretty well answered questions. Anything significant, they ran by the attny and called or emailed us back.

Some attnys do charge more. Every phone call. Every email. So ask about that as you Consult around.

[JRScott]

The one good thing if you retain the lawyer now is that most will allow a payment plan and you can spread out the payments instead of at one time. Which means you'd get him paid and filed on time rather than several months later than the 4 months.

It can't hurt. Like above most of my contact after retaining was with emails. My lawyer's paralegal was quick to answer all my mails and questions. A few times she had to check with the lawyer and get back to me.

I say if you've picked out the lawyer it might be time to get him on your side with retaining. Some will even answer calls from your creditors after you retain them .

[emoney]

Plan ahead and get attorney now. They can help guide you thru this mess with best possible results.
regards,
emoney

[twuoo]

Seems like a really fine line to hire an attorney early because I read one of the questions asked at the 341 meeting is 'when did you know you were going to file bk' and if you retained an attorney months before you file, well, then in between all those months, it can look like fraud??? I don't know.

[lrprn]

...if you retained an attorney months before you file, well, then in between all those months, it can look like fraud??? I don't know.

No big worries here, twuoo. The only way that retaining your lawyer months before you file might set your bk up to look like fraud is if you make a large number or high value unsecured charges or take out an unsecured loan between the time you retain the lawyer and the time you file. And even in this situation, it's most likely the creditor would have to prove you intentionally borrowed with no intent to pay because you already knew you were filing.

If you make no charges and take out no loans inbetween retaining your lawyer and filing, then there's nothing there to trigger a suspicion of intent to defraud.

[spell]

Go sooner rather than later. The answer 7 vs 13 is important. There's also the chance that it would be Ch13 with a 100% payment you deem too high. In which case, you don't file at all and would really screw the pooch if you took a 4 month break from paying creditors then needed to work things out.

[CindyLou]

If you have an attorney now then when a creditor calls you can can say, " I will be filing BK, here is my attorney's number, please direct all future calls to my attorney"

[Lindsay]

If you have an attorney now then when a creditor calls you can can say, " I will be filing BK, here is my attorney's number, please direct all future calls to my attorney"

Will this work with regular creditors? I've not been answering the phone much, but the phone just rings constantly, over and over again. Some of these cards aren't even 2 weeks late and they call all day long. I work late night hours so it is really disruptive. They start calling at 8am and continue until 9pm. Hundreds of calls literally! I wasn't planning on filing for at least 3 months due to recent charges (nothing luxury, only utilities, groceries, and gas, but I don't want to take any chances of an objection). I would retain a lawyer now if it would help stop these calls. I can't put my phone off the hook or unplug it because I have elderly grandparents who depend on me.

[CindyLou]

change your number to an unlisted private number and ONLY give it to your grandparents!

[JRScott]

Will this work with regular creditors? I've not been answering the phone much, but the phone just rings constantly, over and over again. Some of these cards aren't even 2 weeks late and they call all day long. I work late night hours so it is really disruptive. They start calling at 8am and continue until 9pm. Hundreds of calls literally! I wasn't planning on filing for at least 3 months due to recent charges (nothing luxury, only utilities, groceries, and gas, but I don't want to take any chances of an objection). I would retain a lawyer now if it would help stop these calls. I can't put my phone off the hook or unplug it because I have elderly grandparents who depend on me.

I'd talk to a lawyer, but yes it can help. Most creditors will stop calling every day once you retain a lawyer. However legally they can still contact you until you file. Having a lawyer can help. Once I retained my lawyer and gave the info to the creditors they stopped bugging me. It can really help a lot.

[newlife2007]

Would Retaining a lawyer early and actually telling the credit card companys " I have a lawyer and I am looking into BK " in any way speed up their gameplan as far as lawsuits and liens ??

I think it may be best to retain the lawyer but still Do Not Answer The Phone !!

[lrprn]

Would Retaining a lawyer early and actually telling the credit card companys " I have a lawyer and I am looking into BK " in any way speed up their gameplan as far as lawsuits and liens ??

Everyone is always afraid telling creditors you have retained a lawyer and are going to file will speed things up, but in reality when your creditors are the big credit cards and non-secured lenders like Wells Fargo, etc. it doesn't seem to matter.

We started telling our creditors five months before we filed Ch 13 to call our lawyer. Didn't make a difference - our accounts had just started going to collections when we filed. No one was anywhere near going to court yet.

The one time telling a creditor you are going to file miight actually speed things up is when the creditor is local or very small. But these are not the people who are calling 10-15 times a day and blocking their number from caller ID.

[sickandtired8]

Seems like a really fine line to hire an attorney early because I read one of the questions asked at the 341 meeting is 'when did you know you were going to file bk' and if you retained an attorney months before you file, well, then in between all those months, it can look like fraud??? I don't know.

I was thinking the exact same thing! S&T