Has anyone used companies that do your paperwork for you?

[dumpinmydebt]

I've been seeing an ad for a local company that says they will complete all of your BK paperwork for and all you need to do is file. They say they offer a 100% refund if it is not complete or they will re-do it until it is correct. It's like $200-$300.

My wife and I's case is quite simple. We are leaning towards an attorney, but mainly because of the paperwork. We would love to save the money (quotes seem to be around $1500.)

Has anyone had an experience with a company like this? Just curious...

[lgeiger99]

Hi,

A neighbor of mine used one for a Chapter 7 and she was very satisfied. Just wondering, but if you are filing a Chapter 13, it's common to amend schedules, plan, etc. If you use a service like that for Chapter 13, do they charge extra for items that have to be amended (that aren't mistakes they made)?

[HHM]

That guarantee is actually quite useless; if you read the fine print, it only guarantees that the paperwork will be complete based on the information YOU provide. They are NOT guaranteeing that the petition will actually be legally sufficient. After all, they are NOT allowed to provide legal advice, so that cannot talk to you about what the questions means, what exemptions to use, etc.

Also, a chapter 13 should NOT be attempted pro se. The investment in an attorney will save you tons of time and headache. 65% of a chapter 13 case is done AFTER the case is filed, dealing with objections from the trustee, going to the confirmation hearing before a judge. There are simply too many pitfalls. Do yourself a favor, treat your BK like an investment in your financial future. I can practically guarantee that you will ultimately save more than $1,500 over the life of the chapter 13 plan by having an attorney vs doing it yourself.

[justbroke]

It truly depends on the complexity of your case and how good the company is. I used an online preparer that "guaranteed" the paperwork would be "accepted" by the court. Only the paperwork was wrong with incorrect calculations and IRS Limits used all over the place. I ended up re-doing a lot of the forms myself. When I challenged them on the guarantee they never would even write back.

Anyhow, if you're a no-asset case and have no peculiar tax issues, you can file a Chapter 7 pro se and using a preparer quite easily. I think $300 is a lot to pay for preparing the paperwork though.

If you're dealing with a mortgage on a home that you're surrendering or dealing with arrears on other secured debt, you should probably file with an attorney. If you're over-the-median you should probably file with an attorney. If you're filing a Chapter 13, you should probably file with an attorney.

[pcbuilder481]

I used Bridgeport to do my ch 13 paperwork. They completed it within 3 hours of me doing there online questioneer. They did everything except for the plan. I searched online and got a plan outline from the local court. Bridgeport charged me $169 for the paperwork, not bad considering it was about 50 pages of stuff.

[pcbuilder481]

forgot to add, i've also gone through my 341 and the trustee had no objections and said everything looked good.

[tigergem]

I wouldn't hire somebody just to do the paperwork. The paperwork wasn't the intimidating part for me. Procedure is far more intimidating than paperwork, and worth paying an attorney, if you can. But, you have to be sure to get a good attorney, and from what I understand, that in itself isn't necessarily easy!

[justfiveofus]

We used a service and I regret it fully! They had a form that I filled out all of the information and it transferred to adobe, then they locked it so I couldn't change anything and sent it to me and I paid them 250 bucks! I should have done it myself, as I ended up having to correct some of the paperwork since their website didn't list those questions (and they just assumed the wrong answer) or the space they provided wasn't enough to put my answer in for. If I had to do it over I would have done it myself.

Good luck!

[lezlovin]

Dont do it. i know people who have. they didnt do very good on her stuff they left off several creditors. also your still liable for the information on the forms. all they are doing is "preparing " the paperwork. it is not like an attorney where you can sue them for malpractrce if your case is mesesd up. you are better off doing it yourself. at least that way you can make sure you know whats on your forms, etc..

[dumpinmydebt]

Great advice! I was just curious, but it seems there are more unsatisfied than satisfied people. Although I'll look into Bridgeport. My wife wants to do this pro se. She is very thorough on everything, almost obsessively thorough, and has been reading the Nolo book. I was just looking into this to maybe make it easier on her.

We did have the money for an attorney but I found out I'm going to be unemployed for possibly 2 months while my employer remodels. So there goes all of our attorney savings! And I know one creditor is going to sue here soon. They have sued and garnished people who owed less than us. Obviously we want to file before this happens.

We are Chapter 7. We don't have a mortgage. We have an easy no asset case. We are well below the median. The only secured debt we have is a car, which we plan to do a ride through.

Besides that, it's all credit card debt or other unsecured debt that are all at least 2 years old since last payment.

[justfiveofus]

Yeah I'd totally file Pro Se. Ours actually went really smooth, except the exemption thing. We moved so that screwed me up and all I have to do is amend that. We just had our 341 and we were the only one's scheduled all day that were Pro Se, but the trustee treated us just like everyone else (rude lol). And actually there was a lawyer there that helped us know when we should go in where we should sit, he was really nice after he looked at his schedule and saw we were Pro Se.