What questions should be asked at first Atty consult?

[xxbrowns]

I just want to say thanks again for all your support. I am still having a hard time facing the music, but we have no choice. With that being said, what are some questions that I/we need to ask the attorney on our initial meeting? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I am really dreading this whole process. Thanks, in advance, for any advice.

Chris

[bkinparadise]

For me, my first question was "How much is this going to cost me?" Other questions I had was would the BK affect my wife as I was filing personally and not jointly. I was also keeping my home and not including it with the BK so I asked if I would lose my home after all was said and done. I also asked what would be the general timeline in which the BK process would take.

Good luck!

[free2breathe]

Ask what paperwork your trustee will require for you to provide, if they see any issues in your information that they think might be an issue, etc. It's always best to know up front what to expect.

Also, here is some advice from one of our forum members, tcreegan, for when you are shopping for an attorney:

The wisdom of the forum is to shop around for attorneys. Here are some points to discuss:

Communication: phone/email/face-to-face, secretary/paralegal/attorney, turnaround time on responses
Organizaton/work ethic: dot all i's, cross all t's or 'good enough,' document filed ASAP or 'before the deadline'
Competence: know the local trustees, judges, filed cases like yours, up-to-date on relevant court rulings
Retainer/Fee: exactly what is covered, what is extra, what to expect as 'extra'

Schedule several consultations, find someone you feel confident and comfortable with.

[StrawberrySu]

One thing I have done was to study the court calender for the district and state I will be filing in. You can see some lawyers will have several (one I counted had 14) cases all in one day. I don't want a lawyer that crams as many cases in a day as possible. How can he possibly keep it all straight? Also going to be interviewing with a couple of lawyers who are also trustees, as I figure if anyone knows what flies in the district, they do. Make sure your meeting will be with the attorney himself or herself, not their paralegal or office assistant.

I am traveling over Easter weekend to interview with attorneys in the state I am moving to. Wish me luck, as I wish good fortune to you!

[StrawberrySu]

sorry double posted

[xxbrowns]

Thank you for all your responses. Those are great questions to start with. I made my appointment for the morning. Let the fun begin....

[daylate]

I'd definitely talk to more than one before picking. Secondly, I'd make sure I had researched the whole process so that you understand Ohio exemptions which aren't too great as well as the means test, when to stop using cc's, your house situation, etc. Only then would I pick an attorney. And try and find at least one who is not a heavy advertiser. My feeling is they are probably better than the heavy advertisers (in general). Depending on the complexity of your case don't pick solely on price. An extra 500 to a thousand will be well worth it in the long run if you have any issues. Good luck.