Posts Tagged ‘free consultation’

How to prepare for your free consultation

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

1. What to expect. The first time you meet with us, we’ll give you at least an hour of our time for a free consultation. See the pictures on the front page of our site? The guy on the right is Blake, and the guy on the left is Dave. If you don’t see either of us, you’re probably in the wrong place. You might also see Bess. She’s our bankruptcy case manager and she sits in on a lot of our meetings.

And just so you know, your free consultation isn’t like a visit to the doctor, where you spend most of your time with a nurse or intern until the doc breezes through at the very end. When you come in to see us, you will always meet with an attorney (or sometimes two of us, depending on how busy we are that day).

2. Bring documents. We ask you to bring documents to your free consultation that help us understand the issues you’re facing. We send prospective clients a copy of our new client form, bankruptcy document checklist and income and expenses worksheet by email before your free consultation (don’t worry–it shouldn’t take too long to fill out all three). The most important things we need from you are your last six months of paystubs (or other proof of income if you don’t receive paychecks) and a list of your household income and expenses. We need these things to figure out whether Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 will be a better fit for you.

Do your best to bring these documents. If you can’t find everything, don’t worry about it, but if you bring everything we ask for, we can get more accomplished during the free consultation.

3. Brush up on bankruptcy. We’re happy to explain the ins and outs of bankruptcy to you. We do this stuff all day, and we like to share what we know with you. But if you study up a little bit and understand the basics, we might be able to delve into deeper issues on the first meeting, meaning we can get more accomplished in the free consultation. If you’re the type who likes to do your own research, our blog is a good first resource. We also recommend the Bankruptcy Law Network’s posts, but remember that they’re focused nationally, and because the law is different from state to state, not all the information will apply to you.

4. After the free consultation. Sometimes we can sort out all the major issues in your free consultation and decide on a course of action.If there are more complex issues, it may take a week or two of collecting information after the first meeting to figure out how best to help you. Bess will usually help you gather all the information we need. Once we decide what we can do in your case, we can talk about price, timing of your filing, etc. Throughout this process, feel free to ask any questions that come to mind.

Still have other questions before you’re ready to make that first appointment? Let us know.

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Fighting debt collectors vs. filing bankruptcy

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

We make a point of not selling any particular service to our clients. We’re here to listen to your story and then lay out the different options you may have. Often, consumers call us when they’ve been sued by a creditor. Getting sued is a scary thing and the person sitting across the table from us is often nervous and upset.  We do our best to take fear out of the equation and get focused on reaching a resolution.

In a situation like this, we generally start with a few questions, like:

-Do you actually owe the debt claimed in the lawsuit?

-Does the amount demanded in the suit seem like approximately what you thought you owed to this creditor?

-Who is suing you (original creditor or debt buyer)?

We’ll then turn to a more holistic discussion of your situation. In order to set forth your options we will need to learn about your work situation, your monthly obligations, your assets and your other debts (are you at a point where other creditors may sue you?). We will also ask about your future plans. If you’re planning to buy a house or a new car in the near future and will require the ability to get new credit, that will impact the way you deal with the suit.

In any case, your unique situation will determine what options are open to you, but the two most common remedies our clients choose are defending/settling the lawsuit or filing bankruptcy.

Defending a lawsuit: If you are interested in defending the lawsuit, we will determine what defenses and potential counterclaims you have. Sometimes we can develop counterclaims that really turn the table on the creditors. We will let you know if we think your case has that potential and give you our opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of the creditor’s claims. We can also discuss whether it makes the most sense for you to litigate the case or try to settle it.

Bankruptcy: You can find more detailed information on the bankruptcy process elsewhere on this blog.

If you are facing suits from multiple creditors we can discuss whether a bankruptcy, either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, makes more sense than fighting a series of lawsuits. In terms of legal fees, it costs about the same to hire us to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy as it does for us to defend one debt collection suit. Of course there are ramifications either way, but rest assured that we’ll discuss them at length with you and help you make the best decision.

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