Documents for initial consultation-how much did you bring?

[Diesel73L]

We have our consultation on Saturday, I called the lawyer's office and I could tell he was rushed but I just asked what to bring-he just said "bring it all-credit card statements, mortgage statements, everything you've got." I didn't want to take anymore of the guy's time since it's not like we've retained him yet, etc... We have the following:

Latest credit card statements
Latest mortgage statement
Latest student loan statements (all but one)
Latest pay stubs
2010 Tax return
401K statement for me

We are missing a few things-my wife doesn't know where her 403B statements are because there's hardly anything in it so she needs to track that down but I don't know if we'll get something in time. She knows about how much is in it and how much she puts in every month though. Also, her one student loan only gives her coupons with payment amounts-no balance, she's going to try to track that down today too. Finally, I have savings bonds that are currently in my parents' safe deposit box at the bank. I'm only 30 so few, if any of them, have matured, but some will probably start maturing soon. When I moved out I basically forgot about them and only remembered they existed recently. We haven't "broken the news" to them yet, so I was going to take a wild guess at the value of the bonds. We know we're not filing until much later this year (maybe October) anyway, so we have plenty of time to gather all of this stuff. I just don't want to be wasting the lawyer's time.

[mountanddo]

If it is only the free consulation you should be ok. They are basically going to look at the "big" picture and give you some idea of what you can expect. It won't be untill you actually retain them that you will need to supply all documentation so you have some time. At my free consulation even though I brought paperwork she didn't even look at it really, just asked me questions. After I retained her she sent me a packet with checklists of all documents that I needed to copy and mail back to her and then we met to go over everything. The free consultation is basically to see what you qualify for. They don't get down to the nitty gritty until you actually pay them to represent you.

Hope that helps!

[ValleYum]

A listing of your monthly expenses may be good to take - kind of like a rough draft of Schedule J. During meetings like this, sometimes it is hard to come up with things off the top of your head when you asked - so with your prep work it sounds like you will have everything well in hand!

Good luck!

[keepsmiling]

You need to get hold of those bonds eventually and photocopy them. Just tell your folks that your are updating all your records, considering some other investments, whatever; or you want to put them into your own safe box just in case something happens to them. You can look up values online. You want to be sure that you can exempt them. Especially if they are also in your folks' names.

[Diesel73L]

You need to get hold of those bonds eventually and photocopy them. Just tell your folks that your are updating all your records, considering some other investments, whatever; or you want to put them into your own safe box just in case something happens to them. You can look up values online. You want to be sure that you can exempt them. Especially if they are also in your folks' names.

I told them that we were getting a safe deposit box at our bank but we're both busy and I haven't gotten a chance to see them yet. I would be surprised if I had more than $2000-3000 worth if that-exemptions should easily cover it all. The attorney can probably answer this for me, but just for example, I got bonds for pretty much every birthday from birth to about age 20 or so. A 30 year bond I got at age 15 is still nowhere near maturity, so do I look up that bond online, get what it's worth today (or at time of filing) and list that as the value?

[keepsmiling]

I could be wrong, but I believe that what happens is that they no longer earn interest after 30 years. They do not take that long to reach face value.
You may be pretty surprised at what they are worth.
For example, I just cashed a few $100 bonds that were from 1985. They were worth close to $200 each.

[andy158]

Last three years tax returns.

Last six months proof of income.

Last six months of living expenses including all monthly paid bills.

Any other proof of extraordinary income and/or debt owed.


All of this will be required when you do your schedules I (income) and J (debt) for the means test. Getting an idea of your actual figures may be a shock as it was for us.

Good preperation is the key to a successful, livable 13. Best of luck!

[bcohen]

When I was considering bankruptcy, I attended initial consultations with 3 different attorneys, and all of them asked that I bring the same information and fill out a worksheet in their office prior to speaking with me. The information that I was asked to bring was a list of all my debts with the dollar amount and creditor's name, letters from creditor law firms, bank statements, and documentation of income for the past 2 years. Then, when I arrived to the office, I was asked to fill out a worksheet--which was different for each attorney--listing my debts, income and assets, monthly living expenses, recent payments to creditors, and employment status. The worksheets also requested information about any judgements (if any), student loans (if any), divorce or child support decrees (if any), delinquent taxes (if any), and any criminal fines/civil fines/restitution (if any).

I brought printouts of my credit reports as well, but none of the attorneys actually looked at them.

The consultations lasted for approximately 30 minutes, and out of 3 attorneys, 2 reached the conclusion that I should file for bankruptcy ASAP and 1 reached the conclusion that I should file only if I get sued, or receive assets that I need to protect.

I ended up not filing at that time (and still haven't) because the only reason I was considering bankruptcy was that I was being threatened with litigation by a collection law firm in the same city as me. Once the law firm terminated its efforts and handed the account back to the creditor, I no longer wished to pay the $2k-$3k that the attorneys were charging simply to dump less than $25k in debt.

[Diesel73L]

When I was considering bankruptcy, I attended initial consultations with 3 different attorneys, and all of them asked that I bring the same information and fill out a worksheet in their office prior to speaking with me. The information that I was asked to bring was a list of all my debts with the dollar amount and creditor's name, letters from creditor law firms, bank statements, and documentation of income for the past 2 years. Then, when I arrived to the office, I was asked to fill out a worksheet--which was different for each attorney--listing my debts, income and assets, monthly living expenses, recent payments to creditors, and employment status. The worksheets also requested information about any judgements (if any), student loans (if any), divorce or child support decrees (if any), delinquent taxes (if any), and any criminal fines/civil fines/restitution (if any).

I brought printouts of my credit reports as well, but none of the attorneys actually looked at them.

The consultations lasted for approximately 30 minutes, and out of 3 attorneys, 2 reached the conclusion that I should file for bankruptcy ASAP and 1 reached the conclusion that I should file only if I get sued, or receive assets that I need to protect.

I ended up not filing at that time (and still haven't) because the only reason I was considering bankruptcy was that I was being threatened with litigation by a collection law firm in the same city as me. Once the law firm terminated its efforts and handed the account back to the creditor, I no longer wished to pay the $2k-$3k that the attorneys were charging simply to dump less than $25k in debt.

It sounds like your situation was a little different from ours. Our problem is $70K worth of credit card debt/my wife's impending job loss. The cards would have forced us to file eventually anyway, but with her on unemployment we will be able to file for CH7 no problem. We are current on the mortgage, student loans, etc...we just need to get out from under the credit cards-no non-exempt assets to worry about either.

[lillymarlene]

When I was going around to "free consults" I brought the same documents as when I had seen a credit counselor. This was recent bank statements, credit card bills, and credit reports. Though they asked me a lot of questions, none of the attorneys or the paralegal I saw actually looked at my "materials" at the first meeting. Two spent that time mostly explaining what they could possibly do for me. The third (who I eventually retained) did that, gave me some handouts explaining the different types of bankruptcies, to later read over, and said to to think about what I'd like to do.

[doni49]

I haven't read every single msg in this thread so excuse me if someone has mentioned it. But you should probably go in with a listing of posessions too--with approx value. How else can he/she ad vise you as to what you might lose?

[Diesel73L]

I haven't read every single msg in this thread so excuse me if someone has mentioned it. But you should probably go in with a listing of posessions too--with approx value. How else can he/she ad vise you as to what you might lose?

Over the phone we discussed that our house is underwater, so since we're in New Jersey we can use federal exemptions to get $10,250 each of "wildcard" (unused portion of homestead) exemption on top of the $10,250 each of household belongings. Based on that its unlikely that we'll lose anything and will be a strictly no-asset case. We will need to come up with a plan for using up cash prior to filing though. I'll let you all know as we're meeting with at the attorney today.

[tobee43]

Over the phone we discussed that our house is underwater, so since we're in New Jersey we can use federal exemptions to get $10,250 each of "wildcard" (unused portion of homestead) exemption on top of the $10,250 each of household belongings. Based on that its unlikely that we'll lose anything and will be a strictly no-asset case. We will need to come up with a plan for using up cash prior to filing though. I'll let you all know as we're meeting with at the attorney today.

good luck today.

you really don't need to bring much with you other than the "bottom" line. when we went to ours i just had all the figures as correct as possible so the consult could be as actuate as possible that way, they can give you the best possible answers.

just a thought, i would ask if the unemployment insurance is cover as exempt under the ss act or if it may have to be included with your income?

best of luck, i'm sure you'll do just fine.