Pro-Se. Do you know of a good Paralegal?

[HHM]

Oh my gosh... I was sent here by another site, that I have been a member on for 6 years, they said this site was great and very helpful to people. Guess that was false by your reply. I would never say F-- you as I was raised with morals and values. Sorry that you feel I am being condescending with a reply of "Thank you" to each post. I was sincere and sorry if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Wow.

It's not that I CHOSE not to afford an attorney. I have $2.54 in my checking account at this moment. I WOULD LOVE to hire an attorney. Unless I don't pay my rent to cover an attorney, but then I will be homeless.

Well, there is a difference between what you "think" you are communicating, and what you are "actually" communicating. After nearly 13,000 posts and 7 years on this forum, do you really think there is something I haven't heard or seen before. Maybe you don't need to hire an attorney, right now, but at some point, maybe you need too.

[mountanddo]

What is the rush to file bankruptcy now? You are unemployed and have no income and no money. There is nothing at this point that anyone can take. Do you have judgements against you or are you being sued? Are you getting unemployment? It sounds like you may have been contemplating bankruptcy for six years. Is there a reason why you waited until the ninth hour?

[souprebel]

Well, there is a difference between what you "think" you are communicating, and what you are "actually" communicating. After nearly 13,000 posts and 7 years on this forum, do you really think there is something I haven't heard or seen before. Maybe you don't need to hire an attorney, right now, but at some point, maybe you need too.

I'm very sorry it came across that way. I have severe pain from two ulcers that have flared up due to all of this stress. That's the bad thing about emails, text messages or even facebook posts, things can be misinterpreted. I feel like I am forced to file bankruptcy soon because of the judgment, I went on to the GDC in November as instructed by ImTooOld and they set the date for Dec 13th, so either I file BK, show up and they get their judgment or not show and they get a default judgment anyway. Atleast this is what I understand. So, really I would love to wait and have three months to save each spare cent to hire and attorney but since the credit union filed this judgment, I am in a corner.

[souprebel]

What is the rush to file bankruptcy now? You are unemployed and have no income and no money. There is nothing at this point that anyone can take. Do you have judgements against you or are you being sued? Are you getting unemployment? It sounds like you may have been contemplating bankruptcy for six years. Is there a reason why you waited until the ninth hour?

I feel like I am forced to file bankruptcy soon because of the judgment. I think the credit union can take my car. The car is paid off, but the unsecured loan I had with them is not and defaulted and now they are holding my title due to the defaulted unsecured loan. Yes, I am getting unemployment. I was laid off with 127 other people. I have only been contemplating bankruptcy since 2010when I signed up on this site. The 6 years is from another site where I am a member, they are not a BK site, but a credit advice site.

[tobee43]

I feel like I am forced to file bankruptcy soon because of the judgment. I think the credit union can take my car. The car is paid off, but the unsecured loan I had with them is not and defaulted and now they are holding my title due to the defaulted unsecured loan. Yes, I am getting unemployment. I was laid off with 127 other people. I have only been contemplating bankruptcy since 2010when I signed up on this site. The 6 years is from another site where I am a member, they are not a BK site, but a credit advice site.

souprebel, i know it may seem that hhm is being harsh, however, its really is important information and direction that is being related to you here.

let's start again.

1.call or go into your legal aid office and see if they can assist you to local atty's that do pro bono work. when i went to court with the firm who handled our case the other cases the firm was handling that day were ALL pro bono.


2. most all bk attys will accept a payment plan. it took us a year to pay our atty off due to unemployment issues and moving expenses. in the meantime we directed any and all creditors to the firms office. while that in itself does not stop any action a creditor can take it still lets them know you are in the process of filing. however, until that docket number is issued, the creditors will still be on the prowl.

3. go to a credit counseling agency (HATE THOSE!), yet, they many times have excellent referral systems to pro bono attys.

4. do not worry about any judgements they can removed once your bk is closed and discharged by filing a motion to vacate those judgments. in the meantime GO TO COURT and tell the judge you are filing and dont have a dime to your name. it would look even better if you hired someone that will accept monthly payments by then so you can show the court that you are in the process of filing but are even too broke to fully pay an atty.

5. not necessarily in order of advised however, CALL your local bar assoc. and ask them to help you find a firm that does pro bono work.

6. stop paying everyone except your rent, throw some at your car and only neccessary living expenses. CALL the credit union and let them know you are going to be late and see if they will also work with you. do not pay any credit cards or anyone else that is not needed on a daily basis for your general survival.

i know many people think about bk and just never act on it. after all it's scary, the unknown is always terrible to attempt to face. however, at this point you have a good idea what your facing and you will and need to find someone to take the case pro bono or payments. honestly, you will and can do this!!!!

best of luck i know and understand this is such a difficult time for you. the lump in your throat, the sick feeling in your stomach. there is help out there, you just need to find it. also, you stated you went for a few free consults??? what were those atty's take on your present situation. also GO TO MORE!!!!! we went to five before we found someone that we liked and who would work with us taking payments etc.

most of off all, i really want to stress or reiterate what others have stated in this thread. while i known there are wonderful paralegals out there, please do not use one to do this for you. attorney's have the relationships with the courts and can help you through this hard time the RIGHT way. and, once again, i'm not putting down paralegals, however, if i thought they were fine to used i would have even done it pro se. however, i'm no fool! (although some here may beg to differ on that point ). and, i'm not suggesting for one moment those GREAT inspirational people on this board that have gone it alone. they are infamous!!! JB, GMAN just come to mind for the second there are tons more!! you have to be a brave soul, that's all i can say

please try those suggestions i know you will find someone to lead you to an atty that will help

[buzzstpoint]

Should you file or not... That's the big question.... WE all had to make a hard decision.. And it will be yours..
Lets discuss costs..

299 (Or is it 305 now?) for filing. You may be able to waive the cost.
0 for your time.
1300 for an attorney. Unless you file Pro Se.

I dont know much about the process with your cross collateralization and your car. Unless you can call some free legal hotlines (Call the clerk of courts, they usually have an 800 number you can call) Otherwise you'll probably lose the car.

Now the big question, How much are you in debt? Medical? Student, CC, Loans?
Some debt can't be forgiven.
Now with that said, it is worth it to file? That decision will be up to you.

With you thinking about filing, with or without an attorney. head down to the library and pickup the Nolo How to file Chapter 7 book. They may not have the latest version, (Oct 11 2011), if they dont, ask if they can get it. This will start to get you up to speed. Once you want to start filling out your paper work you can order the newest version. YOu can also order the book online.

[BKAttyMI]

If your car loan was through your credit union and you also had a line of credit, etc. with them, that loan is also secured by your vehicle via cross-collateralization. They can and will repossess your vehicle.

Your main concern right now is keeping the vehicle and staying in your apartment (have you done some searches to see if there is anywhere cheaper to live?). Anything else can wait. A good attorney can discuss the cross-collaterilization issues with you and formulate a plan of what to do, that's what I do for all of my clients. Most attorneys will create a payment plan for you, however, the case can not be filed until it is paid off.

[OhioFiler]

Even if you file pro se with or without a paralegal that credit union is going to come looking for that car if you're not paying for it. They will most likely file a motion for relief from the stay and abandonment. The court will grant such relief and they will be able to repossess your car.

If you can't afford the car now you won't be able to afford it during and after bankruptcy.

Best of luck to you.

[buzzstpoint]

that's the big issue here, the car note is paid off. It's a different loan that they are holding the car title for collateral.

[OhioFiler]

Well the personal loan attached to the collateral. Most credit unions operate that way. He should have tried to get clear title to the vehicle when he paid off that loan.

[jacko]

How much is the car worth? Virginia has a $6000 exemption on vehicles plus you can use the $5000 unused homestead exemption as a wild card since you are a renter. You need to understand your rights before you pull the BK lever.

I feel like I am forced to file bankruptcy soon because of the judgment. I think the credit union can take my car. The car is paid off, but the unsecured loan I had with them is not and defaulted and now they are holding my title due to the defaulted unsecured loan. Yes, I am getting unemployment. I was laid off with 127 other people. I have only been contemplating bankruptcy since 2010when I signed up on this site. The 6 years is from another site where I am a member, they are not a BK site, but a credit advice site.

[doni49]

I have gone to two lawyers now for a free consultation.

Cost will be $1300.

I am broke.

I was laid off and if I pay a lawyer...I will be using my rent money.

Therefore, I was going to file Pro-Se as there seems to be A LOT of people on here and on creditbaords that have filed Pro-Se successfully. I thought of using a Paralegal, to make sure there were no mistakes in my paperwork, as a security blanket.

I was pretty much in the same boat and went the ProSe route. Having been through it now, I would not change that decision even if I could go back and do so. But you have to be comfortable with your ability to read and understand highly technical information.

Go out and buy the CURRENT VERSION of Nolo's Guide to Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. That book and this web site are the two things that gave me enough confidence to be able to pull it off. I would not even consider going it ProSe without having BOTH tools available to me.

Pay close attention to knowing and understanding what exemptions you're entitled to--if you make a mistake there, you might lose more than you expected.

[doni49]

How much is the car worth? Virginia has a $6000 exemption on vehicles plus you can use the $5000 unused homestead exemption as a wild card since you are a renter. You need to understand your rights before you pull the BK lever.

But those exemptions only apply to the EQUITY of the car. That still doesn't mean the loan doesn't have to be paid off the car is collateral on the loan.

I'll throw out some numbers to try and explain.

Car's value: $15,000
Loan Balance: 1,200
Equity: 13,800

In this example, and using the referenced exemptions (I don't have time to check them right now but for explanation's sake only, I'll assume they're accurate), the CU can repo the car, sell it at auction and take their $1200 plus their repo/sales expenses. From the remainder, you'd receive $11,000 (for the 6k auto exemption and 5k homestead exemption) and then anything leftover would be property of the BK estate.

If you owe more than the car is worth, exemptions will not do any good. If that's the case, the only ways to keep the car are to REAFFIRM (agree to pay the loan after the BK is discharged--probably not a good idea) or REDEEM (722 Redemption).

[souprebel]

Hello everyone

THANK YOU!!! Thank you for the replies, I didn't know I had so many replies I have been so so stressed, as you can imagine.

I went to a new lawyer yesterday. The cost will be $1435. They were great and I am very happy with them. They talked to me for 2 hours! I had received my unemployment on Wednesday and I was only able to pay the Lawyer $120 to retain and still have to pay the balance in full before this will be filed. Not sure where/how/when I will have all of this money as I am a single female that lives alone, there isn't another income to help me. My family already helps with some of my bills. The lawyer advised, as all of you have, that the credit union holding the title to my paid off car is a big issue. They called the woman that handles things for the credit union while I was there and they did not give my name. She told them that they never repo a car that has been cross collaterized. When I ran the Kelly on my car I came up with $6500, but that was to sell person to person, at the Lawyers office, they ran it and came up with $10,500 I think and they said they have to use the Retail Value. After my visit...They sent me an email stating the following "Assuming you want to end up with the title, then I would recommend the Ch 13 rather than trying to negotiate a reaffirmation agreement in a Ch 7 with the CU on terms you can live with. The main reason for the suggestion is that if done within a Ch 13, then we would have control over the process from start to finish. Should your situation change somewhere down the line (and experience tell me it will!), then we could change the 13 to adapt to the change. If you do a Ch 7 and a reaff, once the agreement on a reaff is made, you are stuck with it. If something bad happens down the road, you would be stuck with the debt (remember the phrase "it's as if the bankruptcy never happened". If we do it within the 13 and the same thing happens, we would still be able to get rid of the debt.

So, please look at the 13 more closely. See if you think you would be able to make some payments. ** Also, we can start a CH 13 with lower payments (100-150/month) until you are able to get back to work and then raise them at a point in the future. I really want to file a Chapter 7, I want to be done with this and move on and start over. My lawyer said we can file the Chapter 7 too, just be aware that they will probably keep the title. Can they really legally do that? Sorry to ask a dumb question, but if the defaulted loan is included in a BK, then they can no longer collect or garnish or harrass, so could they at that point still keep a title legally? Do you think the credit union after they can't collect on it, they will let that title go? I am in no hurry to sell the car as I need to be car payment free for a long time to get back on my feet. I never thought I was going to be laid off I called the title office at the credit union that sent me the letter. The woman advised "technically the car is not attached to the unsecured loan but because you owe on the unsecured loan we have a right to hold until the obligations are fulfilled with the credit union".

My rent is $850, and where I live, that is low and I wouldnt be able to find a cheaper rent.

Thank you everyone for advice as I certainly need it

[ValleYum]

Kind of off-topic but I thought you were a boy soup - not a girl soup!!! LOL

Well, if they won't give you the title and they say they won't repo the car maybe you can just drive it til the wheels fall off.