Hiring an Attorney

[howdidithappen]

Does your bankruptcy attorney continue with you until the bankruptcy has completely ended? Do you sign a retainer agreement with the attorney? What should be included in the retainer agreement?

[HHM]

Does your BK attorney continue with you until the BK has ended

Depends. Most bargain priced attorneys do not. You will need to refer to the retainer agreement. It is common practice that representation basically ends at the meeting of creditors. So, if looking for attorneys, you will want to clarify what is or is not included. Generally, the cheaper the fee, the less post filing representation you will get

Do you sign a retainer agreement with the attorney?

You should.

What should be included in the retainer agreement?

You won't really have much say in this except to select an attorney that is willing to provide the level of service that you want. However, basic representation includes Financial analysis, petition preparation, and advising you on the various aspects of BK and attendance at the meeting of creditors. Beyond that, attorneys are all over the place on what they offer depending on their business models. As stated earlier, the cheaper attorneys provide a "bare bones" approach to BK, and on the other side, there are firms that will charge a true flat rate to cover everything that could happen in BK.

[LadyInTheRed]

If you are filing Chapter 13, many courts have local rules stating that your attorney remains your attorney until discharge. They can only withdraw with your consent or by petitioning the court to withdraw if they have good cause. That doesn't mean the initial fee agreed to covers all work that may be required, but a Chap 13 plan can be modified to allow the payment of additional attorney fees. Apparently not all attorneys are willing to be paid in the plan, so ask any attorney you consult with whether they will accept payment through the plan if you have to incur additional fees. Local rules also often have guidelines as to the maximum amount an attorney can charge without having to get authorization from the court. My district actually limits what an attorney can receive outside of the plan, so any additional fees would have to be included since I already paid the max allowed outside of the plan. You can find your court's local rules on its website. If you don't see anything in local rules regarding fees, also look for "general orders" regarding fees.

[Wantmypeace]

Ours gave us a very clear explanation of what his retainer would and would not cover. We gave a deposit of $200.00, and that held him for a month (and we were able to give his name to the creditors so they'd quit calling us), and then when we were ready to meet to put the paperwork together, we gave him the full retainer fee ($4,099.00). He charges $4,000.00 for his services, and the court filing fees are $299.00. This is for Ch.7, and includes all the necessary bk7 stuff through discharge. If we need him to do anything extra (reaffirmation agreement, vacate a judgement, etc.) that will be charged hourly.

[statha]

It is depends on different attorney most bargain priced attorneys do not continue the end. First proper read retainer agreement and sign it. Mostly mentioned in the retainer agreement are petition preparation, Financial analysis and other normal things. They charged different types as per their business experience.

[howdidithappen]

Could you elaborate- what is all the necessary stuff through discharge?