Advice on Attorneys?

[zero]

Hi again.

I started to interview attorneys for my bk purposes. Most will grant a free consultation and have taken advantage of one such meeting via telephone. He was referred to me by another attorney I did work with in the past. Nice guy but not completely comfortable.

I have a call into yet another out of the yellow pages and am awaiting a call back.

Another attorney who did a lot of work with us (mortgage company) gave me a referral. I asked him "if you were in my situation, who would you call"?

He gave me the name of a very prominent bk attorney. He actually runs classes for other attorneys on the subject. He wants $250 for the initial consult and has me putting together balance sheets, income statements, tax returns etc. We're scheduled for next week but the $250 is hard to come by and at this point precious.

My question is "is it worth paying top dollar"? Aside from the consult fee, he will probably be in the $2,500 to $3,000 range. But he is supposed to be the best. What would you do? Any thoughts?

[NoMoreCards]

I think that answer lies within the specifics of your case.

If your case is a straight forward simple case...I wouldn't pay the higher amount. If yours is complicated, then it would be worth the extra cost to have the best.

All the best

[HakunaMatata]

I agree with NMC. I think it's important to have a strong working relationship as well. While finances are the central focus, personalities play a role.

I, too, had a paid consultation (following a free phone call). The consultation fee was applied toward my total cost. My attorney was recommended by my CPA. Not only was I impressed with his knowledge and experience, our personalities and communication styles were well matched.

Good luck!

[zero]

I've been told I have a simple situation. No assets, minimal income (like less than 2k in the last six months) and 100k plus in consumer debt. Married filing single with the only joint credit account being our original mortgage (I assume I'll be advised to reconfirm that and want to). The house was quit claimed to my wife in 96 shortly after going into business.

I've seen bad attorney work in my former business. People have lost houses and credit shot for years on end. I want to avoid these pit falls. I want to sleep again. But I don't want to spend what I don't really have either. I know it's my call but it's tough.

No More Cards, I see in your signature you filed in august and were discharged this month. Can it really be done that quickly? And congrats...

[NoMoreCards]

My case was indeed filed in August and discharged this week. It was a fairly simple case, no asset and no issues came of it. So it can go that quickly, although it seemed to drag on at times.

You will need to trust your gut on picking a attorney to assist you. As said above, personalities do make a difference as well. But above all, be honest and truthful and you shouldn't have any problems. These trustees have seen it all and I trust they know what to look for if they suspect anything out of the ordinary.

I wish you the best.

[klandsb]

Zero... Just from what you have said I am assuming you are going for a Chapter 7...
I would say in that case its pretty cut and dry... Once the bk is over its over..
Now if your going for a Chapter 13 there seems to be many more pitfalls and you need good councel.... and a relationship thats going to make it thru the 3 or 5 yrs...
My advise is from experience and if I had to do it over YES I would have different councel but at the time I thought it was a right fit... Alot of the Chapter 13 lawyer fees are paid in the plan ... I had to come up with $750 for retainer & filing fees. The rest was added into the plan... I believe , but could be wrong, there is a set fee for bk's... I am sure someone will chime in on this and give you more info...
Just dont rush into it only to find out later a few more consults would have been well worth it...