In a country of laws which requires individuals to hire college educated people with law degrees to protect citizen’s rights, it is only reasonable to argue that attorneys should charge a decent fee for their services due to the personal dedication that was required in obtaining years of education at the cost of a small fortune for a degree in law. The cost of law school is the same for any lawyer be it Michigan Bankruptcy Lawyer or if it is for a Michigan personal injury attorney. Yes, you can file bankruptcy yourself. However, paying a professional that knows the ropes, understands all the intricacies of what a trustee is looking for and what the courts what to know is invaluable. If you are paying an attorney you want someone that has intimate knowledge of individual court preferences first hand. You are paying your attorney to tell you the small details relying on their advice for things like what to do and what not to do at a 341 hearing. As an example, experience over people filing out their own bankruptcy forms is a situation where a trustee would become extremely annoyed when debtors answered her question before she completed the sentence. A good attorney having experience in your district would tell their client to make sure the trustee completes the sentence before you answer.
In the spirit of legally erasing credit card debt without paying them of is because the laws of the U.S courts allow people who have made financial mistakes to get out of debt by legally erasing their credit card debt and getting a fresh start. Long gone are the days of debtor’s prison for non payment. The current problem is debtors get caught up in their current situation and don’t look hard enough at their future or look at the whole picture. People who are deep in debt worry about bankruptcy attorney fees when they literally have thousands of dollars in unsecured debt and are paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars on minimum payments each billing cycle or each month. People will take enormous steps to remove debt by taking home equity lines of credit (HELOC) taking money from mortgage equity to pay on things like medical debt, withdrawing from 401K or taking cash advances to pay on other credit cards with low balances in the interest of freeing up some income currently dedicated to making monthly payments on other credit cards.
Fear of Filing Bankruptcy
The fear of filing bankruptcy or fear of the unknown is why people living pay check to paycheck do don’t file sooner. Debtors will continue to take on payday loans, use one credit card to pay on another until they reach a point where their own little Ponzi scheme comes crashing down and they have to reach out for help. People fear the unknown and the fear of having to rebuild their credit after bankruptcy, they neglect to ask the serious question of “should I file for bankruptcy” until their back is against the wall and more than likely when it is the worst or most stressful time for them to file. It is always better to file on your own terms rather than waiting until you have law suits filed against you and your wages are being garnished. It is always better to file on all of your creditors at the same time when they are not expecting you to file. The next fear people often face is bankruptcy attorney fees when they are already living pay check to paycheck. Debtors often know they can pull out the credit card and pay the attorney nor can they take existing money in the bank to pay for their attorney because they have created such a delicate balancing act of paying bills to keep their house, cars and lights on in the house any unexpected cost brings everything crashing down on them. Once the debtors meet with the attorney they decide to file that is when they are saved. The attorney goes over their case and tells them how much his fees are and then he or she tells the debtor to stop paying on all of your unsecured debt. Once the debtors file bankruptcy they fall under the protection of the bankruptcy court and they can be harassed. The debtor now takes the money they would have paid on the credit cards and then saves for the next couple of months and pays their attorney. If you’re filing soon you can usually fork over a couple hundred dollars to retain the attorney and begin sending the calls you receive for non payment to the attorney.
If you’re a chapter 13 bankruptcy you pay a nominal fee and the attorneys costs are rolled up into the chapter 13 and they are paid through out the chapter 13 case according to your submitted bankruptcy plan. If you’re filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy you will need to pay the attorney in full.
If you are still considering filing and are not sure, now is the time to gather all of those credit card statements and look at the balances along with the estimated time it will take to pay off the balance of those credit cards making minimum payments. The current Credit Card Reform Act passed requires credit card companies give you an estimated time frame of when your card will be paid off with only minimum payments. If you have too much debt and are over your head and your worried about filing for bankruptcy believe it not people who file often have their credit scores improve and can quickly rebound if they stay disciplined after filing bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy can save thousands of dollars that you would otherwise pay in interests and fees.
