question after filing and before 341 meeting

[mothersvox]

Hi everyone . . . I haven't posted in a long time because I've been busy looking for new work and fending off nasty collection calls.

My husband and I hired an attorney to do the BK (his business attorney) and filed Ch. 7, joint, no assets, last Friday, June 24th. Our 341 meeting is July 22nd. Those of you who know my earlier posts know my situation, but to recap: husband and I each had businesses that tanked after 9/11 (w'ere in downtown NYC). We also have a daughter with an autism spectrum disorder and thus have high costs for her medical and therapy needs. We had exceptionally good credit prior to 9/11 . . . and so had about $200K in available credit card credit, which we used to keep my husband's business open until November 2004, when it was clearly just never going to recover. Our filing is large. We have the $200K in cc debt and about $50K in SBA secured disaster assistance.

The attorney was very pushy and actually wanted us to sign the documents without seeing the substantive information. Of course we refused, but he insisted that we meet him in his office (would not let us review the petition at home) and so, for reasons of no school, no summer camp, no babysitter and no family members who could help out, we had to review the docs with our daughter in tow.

I don't know if any of you have ever been around a kid with an autism diagnosis, but let's just say it wasn't pretty. She was starting to flip out, so after I corrected the creditor matrix (he'd left off FOUR creditors that were clearly listed in the Excel spreadsheet that I sent him) I quickly reviewed the rest of the document, as did my husband, and then I signed off on it, hoping to get my kid home before she flipped out. (We did manage to do that.)

Anyway, I get home with a copy of the petition (after it was signed, he let us have a copy of it) and I see that our genius attorney has left my husband's bank account off the document. I was so anxious to get my daughter home that I didn't notice it. I am sort of incredulous that he just left if off.

What do we do at our 341 hearing? I can't swear that this document is true when he left off something as basic as my husband's checking account, even if the account only has $900 in it.

And then reading online here, I see that there seems to be more scrutiny of filings than before. Is that an accurate assessment? If so, is this because of the new law will be coming into effect in October and they are starting to apply those parameters even before they are in effect?

I am exhausted by all of this. Utterly exhausted. My child is flipping out almost every day. I can't afford to send her to summer camp for kids with special needs that she used to go to, so she's going to be at a YMCA day camp, and I don't know if she's going to be OK there.

And now I'm actually worried that there will be a hitch with our filing because of our incompetent attorney. I should have just done this pro se . . . I would not have left off a bank account!

Sometimes I wish everything were just over with, but then I see from this board that some people actually survive this . . .

[HHM]

You can amend the petition at any time before discharge to add or delete whatever you need. I understand the stress you are feeling, but there are always solutions to these types of issues.

(Also, you shouldn't take it as a slight that your attorney wanted you to review the petition at his office instead of your home, that is common practice).

[edwards2]

I have a question relating to attorneys too. I have already posted about our bombshell we received in the mail today to wit: the trustee is asking for a motion to extend .....due to paperwork we were asked to submit and they didnt get all of it. Dont know what. Called attorney at home today(he didnt like it - too bad I am a wreck) and he said this is done all the time and in fact he has received notices from the court when they really didnt want anything. That doesnt make sense. Anyway he said they didnt deny the discharge and he will call on Tuesday and see what else they want. I gave them all the information I could especially with the big monthly expenses so I cant imagine what they are talking about. What if they ask for receipts for cleaning or something and you have the bank statement that shows you spent it but cant get the receipts - will they deny you? I know they got all the big monthly expense things like house, car, etc. the only things left are cleaning/clothing, medical - we had that on the bank statement, entertainment(no receipts for fast food) and house repairs which husband does mainly from Home Depot. Had some verification on that from bank statement. My attorney would not win a prize for bedside manner and in fact he is really insensitive to my anxiety about this. He does it every day and it isnt happening to him. What do you think? Is there any reason not to panic?

[mymymy]

I would call that attorney so fast and tell him to expect your fax in the next few minutes. (well, not today, obviously!) You'll be sending over corrections that he needs to make and you expect to see the amended schedule(s) listed on Pacer immediately, if not sooner! A bank account is not a small mistake. I saw my trustee give people Royal Hell for not listing accounts and told their attorney's in a most stern and demanding way that he expected those amendments PRONTO and they were to be made at thier expense. So, if this was his ommision.. I'd also tell him that the filing fee, if any, is just going to have to come off the top of his profit. Pfffhfht. WTH? Of course, that's just me..LOL.. If I paid someone the bucks to do the job, I expect it to be done right- and done right the first time. I went pro-se and I'm glad I did. No attorney would check, check, double, triple check my petition like I did. I can't believe he wouldn't let you take it with you? How about it HHM- why not?

I think you may be a little more scrutinized than the average Joe.. just because of the amount of debt you have. I do believe the Trustees in some areas are gearing up.. perhaps not actually utilizing the new BK Law guidelines.. but, keeping them in the back of their minds-transitionally. I'm sure it is the topic of much chatter in the down-town watering holes and on the golf courses where lawmen and judges meet, too.

Try not to stress too much.. this whole process is emotionally draining. I think the best thing to do is take it one day at a time, roll with the punches and stay busy. It will all be over soon and we're all the stronger at the end of it.

[HHM]

"How about it HHM- why not?"

Probably so you can't file it on your own after the attorney has done the work. I am not defending your attorney per se, it sounds like he/she dropped the ball a little bit but not in any manner that can't be easily fixed.

Profit margins are generally very slim on bankruptcies for attorneys (afterall, think about it, the attorney is helping someone with very little money). So, even though it may seem like a lot of money from the debtor's persepctive (and it is), from the attorney's perspective, the average bankrupty fee covers about 2-3 hours of attorney time. Even if the attorney's office is efficient, meaning that a paralegal does most the prep work, its still a rather thin profit margin, which is why the only firms that really make money at BK, are the high volumn firms (the Walmarts of BK so to speak). I don't think that justifies poor customer service, but many attorney's do a poor job of setting the client expectations at the beginning.

[mothersvox]

Thanks HHM, Edwards2 and mymymy . . . I am feeling a bit calmer knowing that the errors can be fixed before the 341 hearing. We'll be in touch with the attorney tomorrow and get the corrections started.

Even though we have a considerable debt, I think that it is not difficult to understand in light of two businesses that tanked post-9/11 and the needs of our autism spectrum daughter. When we were still trying to keep the businesses going, we had $3,500/month of business expenses and $2,500 of debt servicing. That adds up quickly.

Thanks for your support . . . It is a stressful time. . .